


lonely boy: embrace for impact

by Significant_What



Series: lonely boy [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Mortal, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Dorks in Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Drama, Getting to Know Each Other, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Photography, Sad with a Happy Ending, Self-Discovery, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Strangers to Lovers, Teenagers, but not because he's mean, good parenting, heartbreaker nico, nanowrimo made me do it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 42,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21561715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Significant_What/pseuds/Significant_What
Summary: ”So”, says a voice to Nico’s left, making him jump a little. He turns to look just as the boy sits down next to him without an invitation. ”Everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy. Care to tell me what that’s all about?”It’s the new kid. The one with the freckles. He’s chosen to wear an unfortunately green plaid on top of his light gray tee, but for some reason he makes it work. Nico doesn’t get how some people can just pull off anything. Maybe it’s about posture, or hair color. Or maybe it’s just about not really caring that much. Nico thinks he might never find out.When it comes to the guy’s words, all Nico can do is scoff. ”Not really, no. But if people keep telling you that then you coming over to talk to me is either stupid or masochistic, and I’m not into either of those things.”
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: lonely boy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009092
Comments: 34
Kudos: 336





	1. the one with the new kid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vlindervin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vlindervin/gifts).



> I hinted at this when I posted a new chapter on querencia last week (if you haven't yet, go read, it's cute), and now I'm here. Let's begin.
> 
> Guess what, it's another high school AU - and guess what? "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
> 
> This is the story I've been writing for my NaNoWriMo 2019. I'm not sure if this story will be the full 50k, but it will be very close, and seriously, that's the longest story I've ever written in English. (The soccer mom AU doesn't count, it's in two parts.) There is going to be six chapters, and so far this first one is by far the shortest one, so I apologize for that. 
> 
> I've had this story in the back of my mind ever since last year's NaNo, when Jasmine and I had these super cool headcanons about another story that we just call "the power couple AU" for multiple reasons. I had maybe 20k of lonely boy written down when I realized it's actually a prequel to that still unwritten AU, so yeah, there might be a sequel for this. Not sure yet.
> 
> I will be adding tags as we go, because I don't want to spoil the story for you before hand too much. I'm sorry if this bothers someone.
> 
> The chapter names are inspired by episode titles from Friends, sue me. I also apologize for the many typos there must be, this is written very fast and I don't have a beta reader. 
> 
> There are multiple mentions on a place in Texas called Corsicana. I literally just pointed at the map of Texas and ended up choosing that, I have no ill will on anyone from Texas or from Corsicana. Please note that there is nothing personal about my literary choices here, and I that I have never been to Texas.
> 
> Aaand if someone here speaks Finnish and wants to hear about my song inspiration for this story, feel free to contact me here or on my Tumblr (significant-what or the-desperately-single-housewife, either one will do). I also need friends, so any messages are welcome.
> 
> I'm sure I forgot to mention something, but I'll add to the notes as we go. Happy reading!
> 
> (The entire story is dedicated to Jasmine because she is lovely and I am weak.)

Nico supposes there are many ways he could be spending the last day of his summer break. Hazel has so far sent him seven Snaps from a beach where she and her friends are having a bonfire. Nico remembers last year how Jason and Percy went on a shopping spree to buy seventeen new t-shirts and two pairs of sneakers to last them all fall. (Nico on the other hand managed with one new shirt and his old pair of Vans.) Jake mentioned half of the computer club meeting up later in the arcade and asking them to join.

However, Nico is quite happy with his plans. It’s raining outside, and unusually cold for the season, so there’s no way he’s going outside willingly, not even to go to the arcade. He isn’t that social, anyway, and even though he could say he is somewhat friendly with most of the computer club, spending time with them isn’t exactly what he wants to do on the last day before school starts again.

So yeah, burrowing himself in an old arm chair under a blanket with water and snacks on a side table next to him is kind of ideal. Add in a good set of headphones and one of his favorite video games and Nico could probably spend the whole night there.

”Hey, quit camping and go check the Easter Eggs or something”, Jake says in his headphones and Nico rolls his eyes. He had barely been still for ten seconds. ”What’s going on with you today? Are you thinking about Andrew again?”

Nico knows Jake is only teasing, but the mention of Andrew only makes him annoyed. ”Chill, I was grabbing some cashews.” He thinks about making a nasty remark about Jake minding his own business but in the end decides against it. ”I’ll check the one in the light house, you go for the corpses.”

They fall quiet while they explore, having played through this particular stage before and already knowing where to look for treasures and Easter Eggs. Nico still checks every cranny and nook of the light house just to be safe, and returns to the battle ground just in time to take down one more enemy that they overlooked before and was reaching for Jake’s avatar.

”Nice combo”, Jake praises. Nico shrugs even though Jake can’t see it; the combo was a bit too flashy for something as simple as a single pirate, but hey, he can do it, so why not. ”Anyway, what’s the deal with Andrew nowadays? I haven’t heard you mention him in ages.”

One of the biggest reasons Nico likes Jake’s company is that Jake doesn’t pry. He lets Nico live his life and only questions him when he thinks Nico is doing something immoral or undeniably wrong – which, okay, has happened a few times too often to be completely healthy. Jake is mostly interested in gaming and computers, and sometimes photography, and even though Nico considers Jake to probably be his best friend, they don’t really _talk_ about stuff. Not like Nico supposes other people talk about stuff. If Nico needs someone to talk about things like, well, Andrew, he calls Hazel. Not Jake.

But, well. School is starting tomorrow, so Jake would find out anyway. There’s simply no point _not_ talking about it, no matter how much Nico _doesn’t_ want to talk about it.

”We broke up”, Nico says, going into his settings to change his avatar’s armor while he talks. ”Like, weeks ago. Not long after the semester ended, actually.”

Someone might get offended for not being told about something like this. Like, Nico knows for sure that Jason would have taken it as a personal offence, if Nico had ever told him about Andrew in the first place. (Nico hadn’t. He hasn’t told Jason about most of his relationships. He feels a little weird talking about that kind of things with Jason, anyway.) Even Hazel would have taken offence, which is why she was the first (and only) person Nico told about the break up as soon as it happened. Grandma just kind of figured it out, like she does most things.

But that’s another way Jake is cool; he doesn’t really get offended. He’s actually a very mellow guy, and it takes a lot to make him show any kind of extreme emotions. Nico has been friends with Jake since they were seven, and the only time he’s seen Jake loose his temper was at Malcolm’s birthday party when they were ten and Jake got a green light saber toy instead of red. That was wild.

”Oh. I’m sorry, man.” Nico just hums in response. ”Do you want to talk about it?”

That’s exactly what Hazel asked too. _Do you want to talk about it?_ It’s such a simple question, and you can answer _yes_ or _no_ , and depending on the answer you can just drop the subject entirely. But no matter how simple the answer seems, Nico doesn’t really know if he wants to talk about it, not when Jake probably can guess the basics anyway.

Because the truth is that Nico broke up with Andrew, and he did it for the same exact reason he broke up with all the others. He even did it the same way, and he knows there’s going to be one more member in the Let’s Hate On Nico di Angelo -club tomorrow at school. (It’s not an actual club. The principal said it went against the school’s zero tolerance policy, even though Nico said he didn’t mind.)

”No”, Nico says after a while. ”Not really.”

Maybe, if Nico wasn’t such a human disaster, maybe then he would like to talk about it. But he _is_ a human disaster, and that’s the entire reason he can’t seem to be able to date anyone properly, so if he wasn’t then there wouldn’t really be anything to talk about.

And maybe, if someone were to ask the right questions, then maybe Nico would talk about it even now. _Maybe_. Because the only thing worse than living with himself, is living with himself and not being able to find the words to explain himself to anyone. Instead, Nico has broken up with six people in less than two years without much of an explanation, gaining haters and getting trash talked on a regular basis when he walks through the school halls.

(You’d think people want to be in good terms with the guy responsible for their year book photos, but apparently that’s not really a priority to most people.)

But right now is not the time, Nico thinks, and he’s kind of glad about that. So they continue playing and not talking about anything too serious, sharing some stories from the summer when Jake went to Europe to see some family members and when Nico’s dad and sister Bianca came home from the army for two weeks. That was actually the first time since Bianca joined the army that she and their dad could both come home at the same time, so that was really special to Nico, and especially to his grandmother. Even though Nico isn’t very close with his dad, and Bianca and him have grown apart in the past few years, it’s still very nice to hang out with the whole family every once in a while.

Jake needs to go around seven, and Nico logs out too, deciding to spend the rest of the night with Grandma. He finds her in the kitchen, cooking dinner and listening to the news from the radio that sits on the window sill.

”Do you need help?” Nico asks while loading his dishes in the dishwasher. Unlike Bianca, Nico actually likes helping out with cooking. There’s something very satisfying eating a meal that you know you made yourself from scratch.

Grandma hums and stirs the stew. ”Oh, you could make some salad. There are still a few tomatoes from this summer, let’s enjoy them before fall really starts tomorrow.”

Nico rolls his eyes, but does as he is told. ”You know, school starting doesn’t mean it’s fall. It’s still going to be summer weather for at least a couple of weeks.”

Rolling her eyes, Grandma sets the pot aside and starts setting the table for them. ”Let an old woman be, you bully.” She sets the plates where she always does, one on each side of the dining table at the far end from the kitchen, and Nico knows she will prefer to sit by the window so she can look out and judge their neighbors. ”Are you excited to see your friends again tomorrow?”

Nico isn’t really sure how to explain to his grandmother that no, he’s not very excited to see his friends tomorrow at school, because it’s very possible he only has one or two left with how he has been playing his cards in the past two years. He doesn’t want to make Grandma worry, and he’s also quite ashamed of himself, and on top of all that he has no idea how much Hazel has already told her, no matter how much he has sworn her to secrecy.

”I mean, I guess”, Nico ends up saying, shrugging as he chops the tomatoes. ”It’s school. I’m not really sure if there’s anything to expect anymore at this point. And I just finished playing with Jake not ten minutes ago, so it’s not like we haven’t been in touch all summer.”

”I know I’m not as in touch with technology these days as you are, but the last time I checked, playing video games didn’t involve a transportation system that could bring your friends to your house.”

Nico won’t even bother trying to explain to Grandma how being social in the 21st century doesn’t really need to involve physically sharing the same space with someone to hang out. He tried that once, and Haze’s tried it, and even Jason and Percy tried it before they left for college, and she just doesn’t seem to get it. Maybe it’s a generational thing. Or maybe she does get it and she’s just messing with them. Nico wouldn’t put it past her.

It’s quiet in the house now, after the long summer Jason came to stay for three weeks in June, and Percy followed him in July. Hazel was in and out of the house every other week, and Nico’s father even arranged a barbecue while he was home. But now it’s just Nico and Grandma again, and even though some might thing it’s sad, Nico finds comfort in their solitude.

Grandma sets her pot on the table and wakes Nico from his thoughts. ”Now sit down and eat, God knows you won’t get anything edible at that school of yours in the next few months. I need to make sure you’re stuffed full.”

* * *

The curtains from Will’s old room are navy blue and clash terribly with the mint green walls of his new room. Will knows this is not his biggest issue right now, that there are plenty of other things he should be worrying about than the color of his curtains, but he can’t stop glaring at them. Every time he looks up from the current box he’s unpacking the walls are the first thing he sees, and he keeps thinking about the day three weeks ago when his dad asked him if he was okay with mint green walls and he said he didn’t care that much. Well, he cares now.

Unpacking is weirdly satisfying. Of course, Will has been doing this all weekend, so he’s a bit sick of it too, but mostly he likes the way his belongings slowly find their own places in the house. It’s smaller than their old house, but then again there are one less people in this one, too, so there’s no real issue in where to put things. Will actually likes that the house is smaller, that there’s no upstairs but a basement, that there’s a long hallway connecting all the rooms, that the first thing he sees when he walks through the front door isn’t a stair case but a wall that his dad is going to fill with pictures.

The new house is almost an opposite from the old house. This truly feels like a fresh start, and Will can’t help but smile at the thought.

Will doesn’t have that many books, but his dad still bought him his own book case for his room. (That’s actually also an improvement: his room is now bigger, so he can fit in both a book case and a bigger bed.) The few novels and several medical journals mostly look sad for now, but maybe he could find some small potted plans to fill out the space. And Will saw a book store near the supermarket, so there’s always that. Perhaps he could visit tomorrow after school.

Going to a new school is not really an issue to Will. He actually likes meeting new people, so he almost can’t wait for his first lunch break. Yes, he misses his friends from his old school, and it sucks that he can’t see them that often because they live so far away now, but Will has decided to survive.

His survival depends on a few things, though, things that Will is still a little uncertain about, and _that’s_ what makes him nervous about tomorrow.

It’s almost stupid, Will thinks, how everything in his life now seems to revolve around the same thing. It’s why he’s not talking to his mom anymore. It’s why they moved. It’s why he can’t be 110% excited about tomorrow, no matter how hard he tries.

Will frowns, then turns his head towards his open door and calls out into the hallway, ”Dad, I think I’m missing one box of my stuff.”

Just then there’s the sound of the doorbell, and Will waits patiently for his dad to go see whoever is at the door, talk to them briefly and then close the door. ”Dad?”

”I think it’s in the study, but you’ll have to unpack that later. Pizza’s here!”

Moving pizza is a tradition. Sure, Will himself has only moved once before this, but he has helped his cousins and friends move, and there’s always moving pizza. However, this is the third day in a row Will is having pizza, so it has lost some of it’s glamour.

(Will is not complaining. His dad does cook, but he’s not very imaginative with it. Pizza for the whole weekend is very nice before they have to settle into a routine and they’re back to meat loafs and stir fry and chicken salad.)

When Will reaches the dining room Mr Solace has already set the table with plates and cans of soda. _Classy as always_ , Will thinks and grins to himself, a little bit excited that this is his life now, rather than the properly set dinner tables he has been used to all his life. There’s something bittersweet about that. His dad is opening the family size pizza box and Will sits down, digging into his dinner with gusto, and yes, managing to really enjoy the taste of salami and cheese even for the third day in a row.

Most of the dinner goes by in a silence, Mr. Solace humming a little while checking his e-mails on his phone and Will choosing to play a mindless mobile game himself. Will doesn’t mind the anti-social nature of their dinners, since his dad does make sure they talk other times, probably much more than your average teenage son talks to their dad about _anything_.

”Hey, you know how I said I don’t mind the mint green walls?”

His dad groans and throws his head back like a dramatic teenager. Will rolls his eyes, knowing he himself is just as dramatic when it comes to certain things.

”Let me guess, not happy with the color after all?”

”It’s _very_ minty.”

Huffing a laugh, Mr. Solace picks another slice of pizza and points with it at Will. ”Fine, we can repaint the walls, but not right away. And you’re going to join me, mister.” Will gives him a fake salute and finishes his slice. ”Anyway, is all packed and ready for school tomorrow? Do you want me to drop you off on my way to the clinic?”

Will shakes his head. ”No need, I’ll take the bike. Helps me map out the neighborhood.” His soda can is almost empty and he plays with the straw. ”And I guess I’m as ready as I can be. I mean, I’m really nervous, but that can be a good thing, right?”

Mr. Solace smiles at him. ”It can. And I guess I would be nervous, too. But honestly, you have nothing to worry about. I’m sure you’re not the only kid transferring this year, and since it’s not in the middle of the year you won’t even draw that much attention to yourself anyway – unless you choose to, of course.”

”Yeah, because that sounds like something I would do.”

They sit and eat in silence for a while, and Will listens to the faint music coming from his dad’s study. It’s one of the old albums Will remembers listening to since he was really small, dancing with his mom and standing on his dad’s feet while they taught him about rhythm and musicality. It’s a good memory, but right now it’s tainted with ugliness, and Will almost shakes his head to clear his mind.

”I guess what I’m most worried about”, Will says, then thinks again, ”or not really worried, but maybe… uncertain?” If having a therapist as a dad has taught Will something it’s how to word his feelings. It’s both a burden and a strength. ”I mean, I’m starting with a clean table, right? And I can tell as much or as little about myself as I want, and I think that’s great.”

Mr. Solace wipes his hands on a paper towel and then leans forward on his elbows. He doesn’t put his ”work face” on, as Will has said he hates it, but Will can tell his mind is halfway in work mode. (Will wishes sometimes that his dad was more a father and less a therapist.) ”You wonder if you should tell people about your sexuality from the get go.”

It’s not really staged as a question, so all Will does is shrug. There’s a silence when he finishes his soda.

”I mean”, Will goes on, because he needs to get this out, and anyway, his dad probably knows how to help. ”It’s not really anyone’s business, right? No one’s sexuality is anyone’s business, and I don’t even know why people care so much. I just… I guess I just don’t want to cause any unnecessary drama or anything.” Will picks up their plates and stands up to bring them to the sink. ”And I’m going to school to study, right? Not to get a boyfriend. So there’s no real reason I should advertise my gayness from day one.”

”But I’m guessing you also don’t want a repeat of what happened in Corsicana?”

”Of course I don’t!” Will hates that his dad hat to say it like that, but it’s not like they can go on through the rest of their lives without mentioning the place they used to live for all of Will’s life before moving here. He takes a deep breath and starts washing the plates. ”I don’t want a repeat of Corsicana. I want a clean slate. But I also want to be honest about who I am.”

When Mr. Solace speaks again, Will can almost hear the smile on his voice. ”Then I’m guessing you have your answer. Just be you. Don’t try to be someone you were back in Corsicana, or someone you think the people here want to see. Just be Will Solace, and _own_ it, and you’ll be fine.”

Will does the dishes while he thinks it over. His dad makes it sound so easy, like just ”being yourself” is as easy as breathing. And maybe it is, once you’ve had some practice, but so far Will hasn’t really had the chance to be completely himself, not since he was six and didn’t have a care in the world. Also from Will’s experience of high school (based on both his personal high school experience in Corsicana, several internet forums and a few culturally meaningful films such as Mean Girls, Clueless, and High School Musical), no one really is themselves in high school without experiencing some sort of identity crisis first.

As things are, Will fears his own identity crisis might still be a little too fresh of a wound. He has been openly gay to his parents for barely two months, and even to his friends less than six, and there are still a lot of things relating to that he doesn’t understand. How is he supposed to be himself in a totally new school in a new town full of new people when he barely even knows who ”himself” is?

It’s cool that Will’s dad is a therapist who can help people work their own problems, but sometimes Will just wishes he had a regular beer drinking, baseball watching dad who would just tell him to man up and not think about things too much. Although there are things that Will would find problematic with that, too, so maybe he’s fine with the dad he has, after all.

Once the dishes are finished, Will rounds back to the dining room. ”I’m going to finish up with my stuff, and then I think I’ll head to bed early”, he says, watching as his dad chews on his straw. It’s a bad habit that Will unfortunately has learned, too.

Mr. Solace smiles and gets up as well. ”Sounds like a solid plan. I might do the same.”

Will pops in his dad’s office to pick up the one box that actually very clearly say’s ”Will’s room” on it, then turns to the other end of the hallway.

”Oh, and Will?” Will turns back to see his dad smile at him. Will doesn’t think he’s seen his dad so content and happy since his graduation. ”Xenia said they would come over for dinner sometime next week. I’ll let you know when I know the time.”

Will is sure his answering smile is just as content as his dad’s, and when he walks back to his room to unpack the rest of his things before bed, he doesn’t really feel half as worried as he did before dinner.

* * *

The new school is not that much bigger than Will’s high school back in Corsicana, but it almost seems busier. Will can’t really put his finger on it, but something feels different in the atmosphere here, and he rather likes it. Maybe it’s because he’s not in Texas anymore.

(There’s nothing fundamentally wrong in Texas, or in Corsicana. For some reason Will had just managed to surround himself with people who had devastatingly different values than him, including his own mother. And maybe, when Will thinks about it, his easiness in this school has something to do with also being so far away from his mother.)

Will has always thought making friends is easy, so he’s not very surprised to find himself sitting with three girls from his home room during lunch. He’s having trouble with their names, but he knows for sure one of them is called Lacy, and that’s probably good enough for now – no one expects him to learn everyone’s names on his first day. The conversation circles around the past summer and some party the girls went to last weekend, with a few questions shot Will’s way about where he comes from and how he has ended up here. It’s not a particularly interesting conversation, but Will doesn’t like to judge people on his first day.

Then the talk turns into someone named Andrew, who Will doesn’t think he’s met yet. It always amuses him that people are so interested in each other’s business and gossip. There’s something very fundamentally human about sitting around the lunch table, gossiping over fruit slices and roasted nuts. They’re so immersed in their conversation that after a while they seem to have forgotten Will even exists anymore.

”I heard he had a fling with a life guard during the summer break”, one of the girls say across the table, making the others look surprised for some reason. ”Drew was talking about it to Kelli and me yesterday at the mall. Said he didn’t seem to be doing that bad, after all.”

”I’m surprised he had it in him”, says the girl closest to Will, picking on her sandwich and not really eating any of it. ”But I guess he needed a distraction after what di Angelo put him through. I know I would’ve.”

It’s the third time Will has heard the name di Angelo in a negative way this morning. So far he doesn’t think he has met anyone named di Angelo, and the name doesn’t sound like any name he read from the faculty lists he breezed through during home room.

”I’m sorry”, Will leans closer to the conversation and taps the closest girl on the shoulder. She turns around and raises her eye brows questioningly. Will is pretty sure this one is _not_ Lacy. ”I’ve only been here one morning, and yet I keep hearing that name over and over again. Who is di Angelo and why is he such bad news?”

Not-Lacy scans the area with hawk-like eyes. Will can almost imagine her zooming in on people, like those high end security cameras on action films. Then her face sharpens and her gaze turns cold, and she nods at someone behind Will. ”There. The guy with the camera. He’s in the school paper and a total nerd, but don’t let that fool you. He has the highest heart breaker rate in the entire school.”

(Will is kind of curious to learn what exact data they use to calculate the heart breaker rate, and if this study also includes the non romantic kind of heartbreaking. He decides to save these questions for later.)

Di Angelo doesn’t look like your stereotypical bad guy. He wears a white t-shirt and dark gray skinny jeans, and his denim jacket looks like it’s actually from the 90s and not just made to look like it. His camera looks professional, and he looks like he knows what he’s doing, and as Will watches, di Angelo gives a small whistle and the people closest to him turn to pose, like it’s a silent agreement. It’s weird, but also super fascinating, and Will can’t look away as di Angelo takes his pictures, looking like a professional photographer and not a high school nerd.

Will doesn’t think di Angelo looks like your classic heart breaker, either. Sure, he has a perfectly symmetrical face, and there’s a slightly mysterious aura about him, but that’s about it. Stereotypically, heart breakers are the cool kids, the jocks, the ones that can have anyone and they know it, too. Di Angelo just looks like a teenager who wants to do his thing, do it well enough, and not get too much extra attention while doing it.

Will can totally relate.

However, Will doesn’t get to stay looking at di Angelo for any longer, because it’s then that the bell rings. In less than two seconds, di Angelo has vanished through the closest doors, and Will is left wondering where to find him again. He doesn’t even know why he wants to find di Angelo again, he just knows he does.

(Will hears three more things about Nico di Angelo before his classes are done for the day, and this only makes him more sure about his decision. When the last bell rings, Will doesn’t head for his bike, but for the soccer fields.)

* * *

The soccer team is the only one holding try outs on the first day, and Nico’s work begins. He sets up on the bleachers behind the school, choosing a spot where the angle of the sun light is the best, and eats a home made granola bar while he waits for people to show up. Luckily the try out reports don’t require him to interview anyone. Nico isn’t very fond of interviews in general. He almost shudders when he thinks about all the ones he has to do in the next few weeks.

There are two transfer students in their year this fall. Both of them are blond. One has freckles, the other was wearing the same band t-shirt that Nico thought about wearing this morning, and now Nico is kind of happy he chose the other one instead. He’s supposed to interview both of the new kids for the school paper for next week’s issue, but he hasn’t yet had time to learn their names or check out anyone’s schedule but his own.

In fact, it’s only the first day and Nico already has more things to do than during the entire summer. Most of the things aren’t even school related; some people have already booked him to take their prom photos next spring, and he’s asked to join the first year book meeting next week, and then there are all the things relating to the school paper, and when Nico goes through the list in his mind it just all feels like _so much_. Grandma has told him several times that he needs to learn how to say no to people, but how can he do that when most of the time the things he’s asked to do are also things he enjoys doing anyway?

(It also almost makes Nico laugh when he is accused of not knowing how to say no. He very clearly does know how, or otherwise he would still have boyfriend.)

The bottom line is, Nico has too much work and not enough hours in the day to do them, but that’s nothing new. He’s kind of used to the work load from last year, and judging from the first day it’s going to be more or less the same this year.

The team captain blows a whistle on the field, and Nico raises his camera, ready for action.

Nico doesn’t think he has actually _watched_ a soccer game since his freshman year when Jason was playing. Sure, he sits through every game and takes pictures, but since he’s not in charge of writing about them he rarely pays any attention on the games themselves. Same goes with basketball, and swim team. Nico almost had to tag along to the cheer team competitions last year, too, but thankfully Malcolm took those gigs instead.

Thankfully you don’t have to know the rules to take pictures of the try-outs. Nico changes his objective for a longer range and thanks his lucky star that he wasn’t ever forced into sports like Jason and Percy were. Even if they actually ended up enjoying their respective sports, Nico would have just ended up being tortured. Photography is much more his thing.

”So”, says a voice to Nico’s left, making him jump a little. He turns to look just as the boy sits down next to him without an invitation. ”Everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy. Care to tell me what that’s all about?”

It’s the new kid. The one with the freckles. He’s chosen to wear an unfortunately green plaid on top of his light gray tee, but for some reason he makes it work. Nico doesn’t get how some people can just pull off anything. Maybe it’s about posture, or hair color. Or maybe it’s just about not really caring that much. Nico thinks he might never find out.

When it comes to the guy’s words, all Nico can do is scoff. ”Not really, no. But if people keep telling you that then you coming over to talk to me is either stupid or masochistic, and I’m not into either of those things.”

Unlike planned, this doesn’t seem to make the guy leave. Nico tries to ignore him the best he can, keeps snapping pictures since that’s what he came here to do, and manages to get a few pretty good shots of the goalie flying across to catch the ball. Nico’s mind is already going through things he could tweak on Photoshop, like the rays of sunlight behind the goalie and the mud flying on a tackle shot. They’re going to be great pictures.

Nico always falls into his own little world when he’s taking pictures, so it’s not a huge surprise that he almost forgets that the new guy is sitting there next to him. It’s only when he talks again that Nico is pulled out of his thoughts.

”So you’re on the school paper, huh?”

Nico sighs and puts the lens cover on. ”What gave it away – the camera, the note book, or my face on the flyer that’s part of your transfer starter package?”

The guy shrugs and looks annoyingly confident. ”Those things, yes, but also people kept mentioning it.”

”Ah, the same people that told you to keep away from me, I’m guessing?”

”Mostly, yes.”

”And why are you here, again?”

The guy is silent for long enough for Nico to pack up his camera and write a few words down in his notebook. He needs to buy a new one for interviews, and he dots that down too so he doesn’t forget, then looks up at the new kid, waiting for him to explain himself so that they can both move on with their lives.

But the boy doesn’t seem to see it like that. ”Because I’m new and could use some friends, and so far you’re the most interesting person I’ve met at this school.”

It’s a weird thing to say. Not because Nico thinks there are many very interesting people in their school – no, he knows well enough that nothing interesting ever happens there, and most of the people are the most boring and ordinary people Nico has ever met in his life. It’s a weird thing to say, because Nico has never though of himself as being interesting to anyone. Andrew used it as a pick up line, back in last spring when they first started going out, but even back then Nico had just laughed bitterly and said ”yeah, right.”

Nico is not an interesting person. He lives with his grandmother and uses his free time playing video games or taking pictures and then manipulating them on Photoshop. He writes a column on the school paper and he seriously doubts anyone really reads it. He never has new clothes, he has a skate board but doesn’t know any tricks, he doesn’t even have any pets. Nico is probably the least interesting person in a school full of uninteresting people.

”I don’t think I’m really the friend material you’re looking for”, Nico says and picks up his things to leave. He shoves his note book and pen to the new kid’s direction. ”But since I need to interview you for the paper anyway you might as well give me your number or whatever so I can text you the details later this week.”

The guy looks way too happy about this. He takes the note book with a grin on his face (honestly, he looks like a maniac, and Nico is almost frightened by him) and scribbles his name and phone number on it with messy lettering.

”There you go!” Nico takes his things back and nods, already at the foot of the stairs when the guy calls after him, ”See you around, friend!”

Giving yet another eye roll, Nico checks the name on his note book while walking. _Will Solace_. He huffs a breath as he swings his camera bag over his shoulder. He can’t wait to have this interview business over and done with.


	2. the one with the car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ”Come on, Nico, please? I’ll drive, and I’ll even treat you to McDonald’s afterwards if you want. Pretty please?” Will certainly does not seem to be above begging when it comes to his attempts at making Nico his new best friend, and Nico has no idea why.
> 
> After a few beats Nico finally opens his mouth, still making sure he looks suspicious enough. ”You know there’s no McDonald’s here? You have to drive almost half an hour to the closest one.”
> 
> Since Will looks like he’s panicking a little, Nico assumes he didn’t, in fact, know that. ”Well do they have a Drive Thru?”
> 
> ”I think so?”
> 
> ”Then it’s still on the table.” Even though Will almost looks like he regrets the promise already Nico is still quite impressed. Will must really want him to go. ”What do you say?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone so much for your comments, it means a lot that you people are interested about this, and at least a little hyped. I'm super proud of this story, so I really hope you keep your interest, and comments are always super welcome.
> 
> One thing I forgot to mention in the notes on the first chapter: this story is actually finished, and will update every Monday at some point. I've gotten a lot better about keeping a schedule when posting (you can check phoenix and turtle and then compare it to Christmas looks good on you, there's a major difference), and this time I intend on keeping the schedule perfectly. Cross your fingers!
> 
> Without further ado, welcome to this monster of a chapter, I hope you enjoy it.

For some reason, it seems like Will Solace has made it his life’s mission to befriend Nico, and Nico has no idea what to do with that. He’s not exactly looking for new friends; he sometimes feels like he has too many already, since he mostly just hangs out with his relatives or Jake, and even then he’s mostly playing games or taking pictures. He doesn’t need that many people in his life.

But out of all the students in their school, Nico seems to be the one Will is imprinting himself on, and it’s, for the lack of a better word, annoying. Nico already has to schedule a meeting with him after school to do the interview, but apparently that only works as an invitation for Will to sit with him during lunch, and to strike a conversation when they pass each other in the halls. Nico doesn’t do small talk, and he doesn’t care to make friends, but he also doesn’t want to be unnecessarily rude.

That’s how by Thursday afternoon Nico ends up sitting across from Will in the diner just down the road from their school, snacking on fries and mozzarella sticks while working on their respective homework.

”How lucky is it that, even though we don’t have the same classes, we still have the same English homework?”

Will finds everything _lucky_. And _amazing_. And _great_ , and _cool_ , and _fascinating_. In fact, Nico doesn’t think he has heard Will say one negative thing about anything so far, and that’s just plain _weird_. Either the guy is trying way too hard to make friends (probable) or he’s a world class psychopath (unlikely, but still possible).

” _Lucky_ is not exactly the word I would have used, but sure”, Nico mutters and reaches for another fry. At least they agreed on dips, because Nico doesn’t think he could ever spend time with someone who didn’t like red pepper mayo. ”Hey, do you mind if I take pictures while we work? I kind of want some general shots of different things to use on my columns.”

Will grins at him – because of course he does. ”I don’t mind at all!” Nico wipes his fingers and picks up his camera bag. ”What kind of a column do you write?”

Nico takes off the lens protector and wonders how Will has managed to walk around their school for four whole days without having the school paper shoved in his face. Some of the people in editorial are almost aggressive about having everyone read the paper. Nico himself doesn’t care that much, and so he has refused to walk around with one or two issues in his person at all times.

Turning the plate of fries so that it looks just a little bit more pleasing to the eye, Nico shrugs. ”It’s just some mindless high school gossip. I’m not very interested in it myself, and I’m hoping that once I get to college I can finally write something worthwhile. But, well, it is what it is. You do what you’re asked to do, I guess.”

”Wait, you write _Rumor has it_?”

So Will _has_ read the school paper. Nico snaps a picture of Will’s hand hovering over the dip. ”Yeah. So?”

It’s Will’s turn to shrug. ”I just didn’t take you for a guy to name their column after an Adele song, that’s all.”

”Okay first of all, Adele is great, I’m not ashamed to admit that.” Nico takes a few more pictures of the dip and fries and then sets his camera on the table to move their pens and notebooks in a more aesthetically pleasing way. ”Second, I didn’t name the column. I’m the third person writing for it since it was started. They keep the name and the writer’s nickname the same, but if you go to the paper’s Tumblr blog you can find the list of all current and previous writers for all the columns.”

The Tumblr blog is something Nico spent most of last year on. He first had to fight tooth and nail with the student board to make it happen, arguing that it’s good visibility and that they seriously need other social media than Facebook at this day and age. The Nico went through the school paper archives and listed and charted every single person that has ever worked on the school paper, even finding out if any of them went on to journalism after high school.

(Only one of the people made it past the local news channel and into the State Senate Publications. Nico is determined to be the first to make it internationally.)

Nico isn’t the one in charge of the blog anymore, because _shockingly_ when the blog started getting more attention the student board decided that they need to get a separate person to update all the social media for the paper. Katie is now their ”social media person”, and Nico didn’t get much of a thank you. But Nico doesn’t mind, because his name is in the logs and lists for it anyway, and that’s enough to link on his CV.

Will continues to work on his homework, but Nico ignores his own in favor of taking pictures. It’s a sunny day, so the light shines through the windows nicely, creating patterns on the (not exactly the cleanest) table. It’s all very rustic and mundane, and Nico snaps a picture after a picture, glad that he will now have boring pictures in storage to use for the school paper to fill up space.

”Do you always have your camera with you?” Will asks after about fifteen minutes of silence, and Nico turns to look at him. Will is staring at him, and Nico has no idea how long he has been doing that. Nico forces himself not to blush. ”Everywhere you go?”

It’s a question that Nico gets quite often, but not usually asked to kindly. Will sounds like he’s genuinely interested in the answer, and Nico can’t figure him out. It all adds up to what Will said before, about wanting to be Nico’s friend because he finds him interesting, but Nico still can’t understand how.

”Usually, yes. And if not, I did pay good money to have a phone with the best camera on the market, so I can make do if the situation asks for it.” To prove his next point, Nico turns the camera to point right at Will, then clicking the shutter a few times. ”The best pictures are taken when you least expect them to be.” Best case scenario, he gets a picture for Will’s student profile for the paper now and he won’t have to spend time on that next week when they meet for the actual interview.

Realizing he’s the model now, Will flashes off his stupid grin again, but doesn’t do anything else. He doesn’t straighten his shoulders or try to pose like a brainless model, doesn’t angle his face in a way he thinks looks good. (Nico knows for a fact that most people have no real idea what looks good for them. He thinks seventy percent of the people in his school should be banned from taking selfies.) Will simply turns back to his school work and acts like he did before, his smile the only indication that anything has changed at all.

Nico likes authentic pictures. The ones that show flaws and imperfections. Grease stains on tables, flawed skin, bad hair days, cracked nail polish. That kind of things. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional portrait that’s super well thought out and color coordinated and shit, but too many of those and Nico wants to smash a flower pot on the ground just to make the picture more interesting.

That’s why photographing Will is so frustrating. Nico has never met a person that doesn’t have a bad angle before. He asks Will to mush his face and make his hair a mess, but that only makes his look like a model from a Christmas sweater catalog. Will doesn’t seem to know how to make an ugly face, or he does but ends up laughing anyway, and his laughter wrings a shine from his eyes that can’t not be captured on camera. By the time Nico has taken almost fifty pictures and all of them show Will looking good, Nico is considering simply wasting their dip and throwing it on Will’s face.

”You’re super unfair, you know. Half of our school would be willing to pay double of their college funds to look half that good in pictures.”

Will’s cheeks get tinted with pink, and this time Nico wants to take a picture to use it in hos color theory classes. The pink looks good with Will’s sky blue eyes.”Flatterer. If I’d known you were going to flirt with me I would have insisted on paying for the fries, too.”

Nico almost chokes on his soda. ”I am _not_ flirting with you.” The whole idea is absurd. Sure, there’s a certain attractiveness in Will that even Nico isn’t totally immune to, but that has _never_ made him act before. ”I don’t even _know_ you!”

To Nico, this seems like a totally valid reasoning, but Will just raises a brow. ”Hasn’t stopped half the girls in my home room. Too bad for them that I’m gay.”

Nico tries not to look surprised by this new piece of information. Why would he even be surprised? It’s not like anyone’s sexuality is his business. Well, it sort of is, because he does write the gossip induced column on his school paper, but Nico made the decision when he started that he would not during any circumstances build a story around someone’s sexual orientation (or lack of it, thereof) just for the sake of it. There have, of course, been exceptions, but those were always well thought out, and Nico has made the point of asking permission first.

The thing is, Will didn’t strike him as gay at first. Not that Nico really spends much time pondering on people’s preferences, but he usually can tell. Call it intuition, takes one to know one and all that crap. But Will doesn’t give him those vibes. If Nico had to guess, he would have put Will down as bisexual, or pan, somewhere along those lines.

But hey, they’re teenagers. Nico knows these things tend to change, and evolve, and anyway, sexuality is fluid. Isn’t that what it doesn’t say in those pamphlets they give out at school sex ed class?

”Yeah, some people never learn”, Nico says, pointedly not looking up from his camera. ”I’ve had the same issue, but then I started at the paper and the first thing I did was make a huge scandalous headline about me spotting myself kissing some guy under the bleachers, and _voilà_ , problem solved.” Nico gives Will a devious look under his brows. ”Want me to handle it? I still have some nasty drafts that I didn’t get to use on my own come out story.”

”Hard pass, but still, no thank you.”

”Suit yourself. Although it is alarming how many of the girls were suddenly interested in being my friend for no other reason but that I would have been their new gay best friend. So you might be dodging a bullet either way.”

Will laughs, and Nico snaps another picture. He’ll just have to deal with the annoying perfection. Maybe if he tweaks with the lighting and contrast he can bring out imperfections on Will’s skin or something. Nico isn’t above cheating a little bit to make Will look human.

They work on their separate things, Nico trying to do some of his homework between taking pictures and Will mostly chewing on the end of his pencil while humming off tune to the softly playing radio in the background. They eat their fries and Nico drinks another soda, and afterwards they walk together to the crossroads by the supermarket before Nico takes a left and Will takes a right. Before kicking off with his skateboard Nico straps his backpack securely across his chest so his camera won’t fall, and when he turns to look Will is almost skipping while he walks.

_What a weirdo_. Nico can’t help but smile a little when he heads home.

* * *

Will was seven years old when he first met Xenia. He had known on some level that his dad used to have a wife before his mom, but meeting Xenia and hearing that she’s his big sister was still weird. For seven years, Will had been the only child, and now he had a big sister – a sister that was almost seventeen and had a car and three earrings in one ear. She was so cool Will couldn’t stop staring with his mouth open like a moron. Most of what Will can remember from that day now is that his mom had cooked chicken and Xenia hadn’t eaten it because she was vegan, and that Will’s mom had been really offended by that for some reason.

Now, ten years later, Will has developed a kind of strange friendship with Xenia. They have a big age difference and never lived in the same town before now, so obviously they haven’t been able to bond the way siblings usually do, but they started with e-mails and continued with texts and phone calls as soon as Will got his own phone, and since Xenia and her husband bought a house Will has visited a few times for weekends.

Xenia has the same kind of quality that their dad has, the kind of aura that makes you feel like she’s a really good listener. Will doesn’t yet know if this is actually the case, since he hasn’t had the chance to really talk to her properly since he came out and actually had something deep to thrust upon her, but he finds that he genuinely wants that. Maybe it’s a part of being the only child for most of his life, but Will craves to have a close relationship with Xenia, to know what people mean they say they’re close with their siblings. Now that they live in the same town Will might actually even get that.

Will hasn’t yet seen Xenia or her family since the move, because they’ve been busy with their second son starting school. (Will has a hard time believing he is actually an uncle and has three nephews. They’re so adorable. And loud. _So_ loud.) So it’s nice to have them over for dinner – especially since Xenia’s husband Elliot is a chef and promised to bring lasagna. Will loved his dad, but when it comes to food he can definitely be bought.

The boys are all wearing bow ties. Daniel’s red one is already half undone and he keeps tugging at it with an annoyed scowl, and Raphael isn’t far behind. Even little two-year-old Gabriel has a green one with tiny while polka dots on it, and Will thinks he might be the most adorable thing he has ever seen.

(Will has never loved anything or anyone as fiercely as he loves his nephews, and he honestly doubts he ever will. Unless he somehow ends up with kids of his own – which, okay, he doesn’t want to go there at this point.)

”Hi guys, welcome!” Mr. Solace grins as he ushers their guests inside with warm hugs and friendly handshakes.

”Hi, Dad. Boys, take off your shoes, and say hi to Grandpa and Uncle Will.”

It only really occurs to Will then that his dad is actually a grandfather. On some level he has been aware of this ever since Daniel was born seven years ago, but it still comes as a shock to remember that. He’s always been just Dad to Will – it’s weird that these little boys call him Grandpa. And Will is Uncle Will. He hasn’t really gotten used to the title yet, even though he loves being an uncle. Now that they live in the same town as Xenia’s family, Will is probably going to hear a lot more of it. He really can’t wait. It’s going to be so great.

Xenia actually looks a lot like their dad – and, well, like Will, considering Will is basically a carbon made copy of Mr. Solace. Xenia has his blue eyes and curly hair, the freckles and the grin, but she’s also short and petite where their dad is tall and had board shoulders. She has dyed her hair red since the last time Will saw her, but it suits her very well, and tonight she has gathered it all into a knot high on top of her head, with a few strands falling down to frame her face.

”Will!” she almost yells when she spots Will from behind his dad’s shoulder. ”Come here, come here, oh my goodness, _look at you_ , you’re so handsome!” She pulls Will into a quick but tight hug in which Will feels his ribs crack and also almost chokes on the amount of hair spray Xenia has in her hair. ”I was just telling Elliot before we left – wasn’t I telling you how he looks just like Dad?” She throws a look behind her, and when Will follows her gaze he locks eyes with Elliot. ”You’re so grown up. Ohh, I can’t believe we’re finally going to see more of each other.”

”It’s really great”, Will says, not even trying to contain his smile. Xenia has also their dad’s tendency to give amazing hugs. ”Although I bet you’re going to get sick of me coming over to your house to eat all the time.”

”Not likely”, Elliot says when Will moves on to give him a hug next. ”You know we would love to have you over anytime. There’s always a place at out table for one more Solace.”

Elliot is so cool. Will remembers a few years ago when he spent a week with Xenia and Elliot over the summer, and Elliot taught him some tricks on basketball that then made Will look cool at school in the fall. And of course Elliot is a really good cook, and he has his own restaurant, and Will doesn’t know a lot about cooking but that’s pretty much one of the coolest things Will knows. Elliot has thick dark brown hair, and he wears half of it in a bun similar to Xenia’s, and Will isn’t ashamed to admit that he wants to grow out his hair, too.

(When Will thinks about it now, Elliot might actually have been his first real crush. Or one of the firsts. It never was anything but a school boy infatuation that faded as soon as Will went back home, but it’s weird to think about now. Will chooses to ignore it, preferably for the rest of his life.)

”Have you gotten taller since the last time we saw you?” Elliot asks and holds Will at an arm’s length, looking him over. ”I swear you used to be an entire head shorter.”

Will rolls his eyes. ”Gee, thanks.” He knows he’s not that short, but when both his dad and Elliot are on the taller side he feels terribly inadequate. ”Let’s just hope I don’t stop growing or I might never feel like I can play basketball again.”

”Speaking of coming over”, Xenia interrupts even though they clearly have moved on with their topics, ”you’ll need a proper vehicle. Come on.”

Without taking no for an answer (or giving Will time to even say anything for that matter), Xenia grabs Will’s hand and pulls him outside with her. Will doesn’t get to put his shoes on, but it’s just as well, since it’s a relatively warm day and it hasn’t rained all day, so the walkway up to the house is dry. Xenia stops in the middle of the walkway, makes a show of presenting something to Will, and then looks over to him with an excited grin on her face.

”Ta-da!”

Will doesn’t get it. All he can see is just the street, a few cars parked along it, and one of their neighbors mowing the lawn a few houses over. ”What am I looking at?”

Elliot appears at Will’s side and places something in his hand at the same time as Xenia almost screams in excitement. ”Your new car!”

”My _what_ now?” Will must have misheard her. There’s no way he has a car. He’s a firm believer that once you voice your wishes out loud to the universe, the universe will make it happen one way or another, but Will hasn’t even had the courage to say it yet, knowing that it may be a little too much to ask for. Even so, when Will looks down at his hand, there’s the unmistakable set of keys that can only be for a car. ” _What_?”

Will got a car. He has an actual car now. Sure, this is something he has been planning to get, once he gets a job and has enough money saved, but that was supposed to be somewhere in the future, possibly next fall if he got a summer job that pays well enough. But he has a car _now_ , Xenia points it out to him and Will can see it there on the side of the road, and there are keys in his hands, and there’s even a sparkly metal W hanging from the key chain. It’s _his car_. Will can’t believe it.

”I’ll pay you back”, is all he can think of saying when he turns to look at Xenia and Elliot again.

But Elliot shakes his head. ”You will do no such thing. We have seventeen birthdays and Christmases to catch up on. And trust me, you don’t want to take your bike to school when we get snow. You’re going to love having a car by then.”

To be perfectly honest, Will _already_ loves having a car. He doesn’t really believe in high school social hierarchy the way it’s displayed in movies and TV-series, but he does believe in the fact that having a car will make his entire life so much easier. He can take trips with his friends. He can drive himself to school when it’s raining and he doesn’t get wet. He can make one of his life long dreams come true and go see a movie in an outdoor theater, if he can find one – though that one might have to wait until spring. There are so many things he can do now, things he couldn’t do when he only had his bike, and the biggest thing the car is going to give Will is freedom.

It’s just what he never knew he needed before he actually had it.

Solaces are huggers, so Will doesn’t think too much about it when he tackles Xenia into another crushing one. This time Will is doing most of the crushing, though, but Xenia doesn’t seem to mind too much. There are so many thoughts and feelings swirling inside of him and he can’t really get a handle on them just now, but he just knows that he will forever be thankful for Xenia and Elliot as well as Mr. Solace (because there’s no way his dad let Xenia and Elliot buy him a car without a long and probably frustrating conversation).

”Thank you.” Will locks eyes with Elliot over Xenia’s head, making sure that he knows the sentiment is for him, as well. ”Seriously, thank you.”

Xenia laughs. Will can feel it muffled against his shoulder. How is she so short when their dad is so tall? ”Consider it my free pass. Now I get to be the annoying big sister I’ve always wanted to be.”

Will grins. ”It’s a deal, then.”

Elliot smiles and squeezes Will’s shoulder without interrupting their hug. Will may have left everything he knows behind in Corsicana, but he has also gained better access to this part of his family, and that’s so great Will almost wants to cry. ”Come on, guys, let’s go inside. The lasagna’s getting cold!”

* * *

Nico really enjoys the weekends that Hazel comes over. She’s two years younger than Nico, and when they were little Nico remembers her following him around everywhere like a lost puppy. It used to annoy him, but once they grew up a little and they started finding things in common things have been increasingly better. Nico simply loves having Hazel around, and after Bianca graduated high school and joined the military, having another sister around really helped Nico adjust to the change.

Hazel lives a few towns over, and it’s become a tradition for Nico to come up to meet her at the bus station with cans of soda and bag of gummy worms (or two cups of hot chocolate if it’s winter). There are never that many people on the bus, and Hazel is always the first one out, jumping from the door and tackling Nico to the warmest hug he could ask for. Hazel is a great hugger. Nico thinks she must get that from Grandma.

”I know it’s only been, like, two weeks since I last saw you, but damn, school is a _pain_ and I need this weekend!”

They drink their sodas sitting on a bench in the little park in front of the city hall while Hazel tells Nico about her first week of school. She has already managed to anger her art teacher by constantly correcting him on his knowledge on art history, and Nico is just happy she hasn’t gotten any detention yet. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Hazel talks about her week with wild hand gestures, and explains that she has Skyped with Jason the previous night. Apparently Jason has asked Hazel to grill Nico on his current relationship status, because if Nico isn’t dating anyone at the moment then there is some guy Jason wants him to meet. Nico rolls his eyes at that. He seriously doubts that Jason has found someone that Nico would be even the least bit interested in. It’s probably some guy from Jason’s soccer team (it usually is), and those kinds of guys don’t care about dating weird guys from high school, anyway.

While Jason and Percy are the athletes in the family (and Bianca and Thalia follow in their parents’ footsteps, both in their own way), Nico and Hazel are the artists. Nico can admit that he is reasonably talented in photography by now, and writing is something he finds himself enjoying more and more as time goes on. Hazel, on the other hand, is a real da Vinci, trying everything and mastering every skill she chooses. She paints, draws, sculpts, designs and does a million other things that Nico doesn’t even know what they’re really called. He has no idea how she finds the time for everything when he himself is struggling to balance school, photography and social life and still have enough time to play video games.

After catching up they walk to their favorite second hand store, behind the mall next to the used books store. This is yet another tradition they have. Nico isn’t ashamed to admit that he buys most of his clothes from here; whenever he has money to spare, he would much rather use it to something else, like gaming gear or photography equipment. And sometimes the second hand stores around here sell some very nice stuff. Nico is a proud owner of three different retro jackets, all of which are from the 80s or 90s and have lately come back in style. (Piper would be so proud.)

”So”, Hazel’s voice takes a playful edge while they slowly walk from table to table to inspect their contents, ”nothing new to report yet? No new hot guys to ’study with’?”

Nico scoffs and pushes Hazel on the shoulder. (He will never admit that her words bring in mind the previous afternoon at the diner.) ”No, shut up. Why do we always talk about me, anyway? Don’t you have any juicy news for me, huh?”

Hazel doesn’t answer, and when Nico turns to look her cheeks have turned pink under her tan.

”Oh. My. God. You _do_ have juicy news!”

”I _don’t_!”

”Don’t lie to your brother, Hazel”, Nico teases and stops right in front of Hazel so she has to stop too and look at him. ”Well? What’s his name? Does he go to your school? Do I need to scare him?”

”You couldn’t scare him even if you really tried.” Nico gives her a look and stares until she sighs. ”Okay, fine. His name is Frank and he’s in my ceramics class, and he’s really cute and he asked me to help him with his designs.” Nico raises a brow in question. ”No, it’s not like that. And even if it was, I wouldn’t talk to _you_ about it.”

”Hurtful.”

”You’re my _brother_ , I doubt you would even want to know everything.”

Hazel does have a point. Nico turns and continues walking down the isles, letting his eyes roam the shelves and racks for anything that might peak his interest. He spots a few nice and surprisingly clean flower pots on one of the lower shelves and leans down to investigate further. ”So, what’s your plan with him? Are you going to take it slow or are you afraid you might need to act fast in case he looses interest?”

Hazel hums and stops to look at a flowery dress on one of the racks. ”Something in between, I’m guessing. I mean, he’s really shy, and you know me, I don’t really take action when it comes to stuff like this.” She sighs and puts the dress back without even trying it on. ”I wouldn’t even know how to go about it. But there’s going to be a party next week, and we were both invited, and we have agreed to hang out there. So it’s _something_ at least.”

Nico wonders when Hazel grew up to be the person she is now, talking about crushes and potential relationships. It feels like just last month she was such an ugly duckling like Nico, when all she wanted was to watch Nico play video games while she doodled in her sketch book and laughed about horse memes with Jake through voice chat. Objectively Nico has known that Hazel is older now, that she’s in high school and already working on getting a scholarship to Juilliard, but maybe you can never be entirely objective when it comes to your siblings.

They don’t talk much about guys or relationships after that, which is just as well, because Nico has had enough questions about Andrew in this past week to last him for months, and Hazel was totally right, he does not want to hear details of his sister’s love life. They spot a few nice dresses for Hazel, bold flower prints and lacy hems, but she doesn’t buy any of them because they don’t have pockets. Hazel finds Nico a dark grey t-shirt with a band logo on the back and he tries it on, and since it’s only a dollar he decides to buy it. It’s not like you can ever have too many band t-shirts.

Nico has already paid for the shirt and they’re making their way out when he sees something bright yellow in the corner of his eye and turns to look. It’s a flower pot, not too big but a very nice shape, and it doesn’t have any cracks on it like the flower pots in second hand places usually do. There’s a nice white stripe near the bottom of it, and Nico thinks it would go well together with all the different pots Grandma has in her back porch and in her small green house behind the house.

”Hey, do you think Grandma would find any use for this?” Nico holds the pot for Hazel to see, because he knows Grandma would _like_ it, but it’s a whole other thing if she actually has anything to put in it.

Hazel, of course, has an answer to that ready. ”I don’t know, but we can make sure she does by stopping by the garden center and buy her a cute little seedling for it. It is her birthday soon, you know, we can tell her it’s part of her present if you want.”

Nico smiles and returns to the cash register, already thinking what kind of a plan would go best with the yellow pot.

* * *

There’s a party on a Saturday after the third week of school. Drew’s parents are going to be out of town, and she’s throwing her apparently annual ”Autumn Fiesta”. Will gets an invitation directly from Drew, and even though he has gotten to know her enough to know he is not going to get along with her, he still thinks about going. After all, he is the new kid still, and he almost feels like it’s an obligation for him to attend any social gathering he can.

(He does, however, feel like he should point out that there is nothing very ”fiesta” about autumn, and that he’s expecting tacos and tequila at the very least. He doubts he’s getting either. Also Drew isn’t the kind of person that you can really talk to without her initiating the conversation first, so Will doesn’t think he’ll get a word in, anyway.)

Back in Corsicana Will didn’t really go to parties. Sure, he threw one or two himself with Cecil and Lou Ellen when Lou’s parents were out visiting her grandparents, but those were very exclusive with a strict guest list. Will doubts his dad would have even cared if he found out about those, because it was mainly just Will, Lou Ellen, Cecil, and a few other people from Will’s basketball team and Lou’s computer club watching movies and having a couple of beers.

That being said, since Mr. Solace isn’t aware of Will being a party-goer (which he isn’t, by any means), Will is pretty positive he doesn’t have to lie to get to go. They did agree on total honesty with his dad anyway, when they moved and it was suddenly just the two of them.

So Will isn’t too worried, but he is a little nervous when he breaches the topic carefully during dinner on Wednesday. He lies out all the facts about him being the new kid, and his dad listens quietly while eating a tuna casserole. To Will’d brief disappointment, he doesn’t even seem a little bit angry about the underage drinking and multiple other possible crimes that are inevitably going to happen on Saturday, and Will gets a little more nervous.

”Dad, can I please go?” Will isn’t above of using puppy eyes, even though he knows they won’t work on his dad. ”I won’t be late, because I have my first day of work the next day. I’ll take the car so you know I won’t drink. Besides, this is an important social ritual for high schoolers, you know that. I can’t be a part of the group if I don’t know what the others are talking about.”

Will is quite happy with the fact that he can use his work as a reason to let him go. He didn’t have a job back in Corsicana – or, well, he did, but mowing your neighbor’s lawn and cleaning their pool and feeding their cat when they’re away is no were near the same as an actual job at the movie theater, selling tickets and maintaining the facility. Sure, it’s only a few days a week, and he mostly just cleans the floors and sells popcorn, but it’s something, and he now gets a little more pocket money than what he’s used to.

It also doesn’t hurt that Will’s dad has spent the last two days telling Will how proud he is that Will has a job at the movie theater. Apparently selling tickets was Mr. Solace’s first job, too, when he was fourteen, and even though he was selling tickets to a drive in he still seems to think Will is following in his foot steps.

”If I let you go to this party”, Mr. Solace says, and Will cheers internally, knowing he has already won this round, ”you’ll have to promise me to be home by 2AM. And be on top of all your school work before going – no leaving homework until Sunday night!”

Will is pretty sure his dad knows Will never leaves his school work until the last day, but he doesn’t say anything. All he does is thank his dad the best way he knows, a crushing hug and a promise to take care of dinner for two days the next week. His dad may like to cook, but he really isn’t the best at it, and Will doesn’t mind as long as his dad does the dishes.

* * *

Nico has always liked to play with Photoshop. He doesn’t usually do much with the pictures he uses on the school paper, but there are the standard tweaks with brightness and contrast and saturation that he does every time, just to keep the pictures cohesive and pleasant to look at. It’s also something small he can work on at school during a free period, if he’s able to find a quiet enough spot wither from the small school library or the cafeteria.

This time the cafeteria has proved to work better as there is a computer class in the library, and Nico as set camp so to speak in one of the far corners of the hall. He has his laptop set on the table with his memory card connected to it, and he has his head phones on with music blasting into his brain probably far louder than is necessary. He’s working on the pictures he took last week at the diner with Will, quite happy with the way the general pictures of fries and dip and homework turned out. It still bothers that Will looks so stupidly perfect, and that’s why he has moved all pictures of Will into a separate folder that he decidedly does not open.

The problem with working in a public space like the school cafeteria, however, is the perfect lack of privacy it provides. Nico has barely been working on his stuff for twenty minutes when he sees from the corner of his eye someone approaching his table. He doesn’t turn to look, hoping against his better knowledge that the person would just keep walking, but way too soon Nico has to submit to the fact that his seclusion is now just a sweet dream.

”Hey, guess who has a car now?”

Nico looks up at the sound of Will’s voice, but then he just rolls his eyes and turns back to his laptop. ”Well since you sound like you might burst into a song any minute like this is High School Musical, I’m guessing you do.” And just because it’s the polite thing to do, he takes off one of his ear buds and lowers the volume of his music. ”Your dad bought you one?”

”Nope, my sister and his husband.”

”Didn’t realize you had a sister.”

That’s where Nico makes his first mistake, he realizes later. Because apparently in Will’s world (and, let’s face it, in the general world of Human Beings), that is an invitation to a conversation. Which is not what Nico intends to do. No, he just means to be snarky and weird, like he always does but rarely manages to.

”Yeah, she’s from Dad’s first marriage. I was like, seven when I learned she even exists. ’Hey, you have a sister. Congratulations, it’s a girl!’” Will does this weird thing with his voice where he sounds almost exactly like one of those perky, too-perfect people in medical commercials. It’s unnerving. ”Anyway, she lives around here, and they got me the car to apparently make up for every Christmas and birthday so far. Don’t ask.”

”Wasn’t going to.”

Nico isn’t really rude, he thinks. Not usually, anyway, and he doesn’t mean to be rude to Will now. But Will has been around for two weeks now, and Nico has been forced to spend time with him every day at school, which is more than Nico has spend time with any of his actual friends combined in two months, so yes, his nerves are a little tight. He takes a deep breath to settle himself again.

”Hey, and I also have a job, too! A few days a week at the movie theater, and yes, it does include cleaning toilets a lot, but it pays.” ”I hear Drew is throwing a party Saturday night. Do you want to go celebrate with me?”

Nico takes out the other ear bud too and properly turns to give Will a deadpan look. ”I’m _not_ going on a date with you, Solace.”

”Who said anything about a date?” Will asks, and Nico has to roll his eyes. Surely Will must have known what it sounded like. ”Think of it as a social experiment. And imagine all the gossip you’ll get. Your column will be set for weeks!”

With that, Will does have a point. The start of the school year has brought with it the huge need for new gossip and more stories about both the seniors graduating this year as well as the freshmen still getting used to the social webbing that has grown inside their school. A party at Drew Tanaka’s house would be the perfect opportunity to see how people act around each other somewhere that isn’t a school setting, and Nico is pretty sure he would get to take some pretty nice pictures there, too. Who knows, maybe he can even take his Polaroid camera with him and sell pictures for one dollar a piece.

”Come on, Nico, please? I’ll drive, and I’ll even treat you to McDonald’s afterwards if you want. Pretty please?” Will certainly does not seem to be above begging when it comes to his attempts at making Nico his new best friend, and Nico has no idea why.

Nico knows he looks suspicious about this offer, and Will seems to be biting the inside of his cheek as he waits. For some reason Nico wants to make him sweat a little. He has no idea what has Will so nervous about this – the worst thing that can happen is that Nico says no, and that just means Will is going to have to figure out something else to do on Saturday night. But honestly, Will already had Nico at McDonald’s. He doesn’t think he has ever said no to greasy fries and milkshakes.

After a few beats Nico finally opens his mouth, still making sure he looks suspicious enough. ”You know there’s no McDonald’s here? You have to drive almost half an hour to the closest one.”

Since Will looks like he’s panicking a little, Nico assumes he didn’t, in fact, know that. ”Well do they have a Drive Thru?”

”I think so?”

”Then it’s still on the table.” Even though Will almost looks like he regrets the promise already Nico is still quite impressed. Will must really want him to go. ”What do you say?”

Nico doesn’t say anything for almost half a minute still, just staring at Will and trying to figure him out. If he’s being honest to himself, it actually feels kind of nice that someone is willing to go so far to try and become his friend. Nico doesn’t think that anyone has really done that before. All his other friendships just kind of happened, they were mostly based on circumstance and convenience and not so much on actual choice. It feels good to be _wanted_ for once.

”Okay fine”, Nico says, and immediately Will’s face quite literally splits into the biggest grin Nico has ever seen. ”I will go with you to the party, but you’ll help me with my camera equipment, _and_ you pay for food afterwards.”

There is something to be said about the way something this small seems to have such a huge impact on Will. Will is the new kid in school, there should be no shortage of people who want to spend time with him and go to stupid high school parties together. Nico briefly wonders if Will has had trouble making friends, but discards that thought as soon as it forms. This is Will Solace he’s talking to. Will is like a walking, talking ray of sunshine and happiness who probably has a unicorn for a pet. Asking Nico to the party is obviously just a bad life choice.

”Great! You can tell your grandmother we’re studying late if you don’t think she’ll let you go otherwise. I’ll text you later this week about the details!” And with that Will is already skipping away, not really giving Nico even a chance to change his mind.

Nico sighs. He isn’t entirely sure he wants to know what he just promised himself for, and it doesn’t even seem likely that he can cancel. Will isn’t the kind of person you can say no to.

* * *

The party is in Drew’s dad’s house, and it’s already in fill swing when Nico and Will arrive around eleven. Despite the chilly evening the front door seems to be permanently open, and people come in and out of the building as a steady stream. Will parks his car a few houses away and they walk the rest of the way, and Nico whistles lowly when they reach the front yard.

”I knew Drew wasn’t exactly poor or anything, but _damn_.” They stop for Nico to already take a few pictures, and Will can basically see the wheels turning in his head, probably planning the text he’ll write about the party. ”I need to find out what he does for a living. I don’t want to risk a local scandal – although now that I think of it, all publicity is good publicity.”

Will has heard the saying before, and while he doesn’t entirely agree, he just hums and shrugs. ”My guess is either corporate or political. Drew gives out that kind of Blair Waldorf and her mean girls kind of Upper East Side vibe.”

”True, and weirdly accurate.” Will doesn’t know if he should be surprised or not that Nico gets the Blair Waldorf reference. He is surprisingly pleased about it, though. ”Let’s get this party over with.”

As far as Will can tell, the party is exactly like any high school house party he has seen on TV. There are too many people for anyone to be truly comfortable, spilled alcohol on carpet, someone’s shoe hanging from the ceiling fan, the entire kitchen island full of different alcoholic drinks and mixers, and every once in a while a couple disappearing up the stairs only to be herded back downstairs by either Drew, her boyfriend, or one of Drew’s friends.

Will helps Nico set up his tripod in the corner of the living room where it’s safe from most of the party people. Nico has brought a plastic sheet to cover the tripod and most of the camera to shield it from any spills, and Will has to admit he’s a little impressed with all the thought that has gone into Nico’s packing for the party. Nico takes out a Polaroid camera next, and explains that while the DSLR takes a picture every minute, the Polaroid gives Nico more freedom, different angles and a more relaxed feel. There’s a little technical talk when he explains Will how he’s going to use the Polaroids on his article about the party, but Will is the first to admit that he doesn’t understand most of it.

After a while Will leaves Nico be to go and find out if there’s anything non-alcoholic in the kitchen for him to drink. He bumps into a few people who all seem more or less drunk, guessing from the enthusiasm of their hello, and when Will makes his way back to Nico with two cans of soda it almost feels like the music is even louder than when they first arrived.

Will gives the soda to Nico, who smirks a thanks that Will can’t hear over the music and other sounds of partying, and then Will is pulled to the middle of the room to dance with people he has seen around school but hasn’t yet actually talked to. Will doesn’t mind this, and he lets himself be pulled around and danced with since the music is good and Will has reason to celebrate. He might not be a big party person, but letting go like this every once in a while never hurts anyone, right?

More often than not, when Will turns to look, Nico has the camera pointed in Will’s general direction. Will doesn’t think too much about it, because the living room isn’t that big, and Nico is always standing in one corner or the other, so pretty much everywhere is Will’s general direction. The music is loud enough that Will has no chance of hearing the camera shutter clicking, but he has spent enough time with Nico by now to know exactly what it sounds like, and he can hear the phantom clicks echoing in his head.

Will hasn’t been planning on staying at the party for long in the first place, so when Nico finds him a little over two hours later to say that he’s out of film Will is fine to go. Someone might think it’s pathetic to leave the party so early, just after midnight, but Will has the excuse of a work day in the morning, and to be perfectly honest, Nico looks like he could use a good night’s sleep. Will almost points it out to him, almost suggests they have a rain check on the trip to McDonald’s, but when they get in the car Nico is already telling him which way to turn to reach the high way, so Will doesn’t say anything.

It’s a little awkward on the drive, but Will puts on some music and hums along to seem like he doesn’t care or even notice. Nico keeps looking out the window, holding his camera bag in his lap and not saying a word even when Will is sure the songs get on Nico’s nerves. Or maybe Nico just has a very wide taste in music, how would Will know. It’s not like they know each other that well yet.

The thing is, the more Will spends time with Nico, the more desperately he does want to know him. It may have started as half a joke, wanting to befriend Nico just because everyone told him to stay away, but it’s not like that anymore. Nico is genuinely interesting, he’s a big ball of contradictions and sharp edges and underlying softness, and Will wants to unlock his secrets. It feels weird and intruding even in his own head, but it’s the truth, and he knows he won’t be happy without seeing this thing through – whatever the ending may be.

Nico helps Will locate the McDonald's in their neighboring town, and they pull over to join a few other cars in line to the Drive Thru. Will turns to look at Nico to see him eyeing the menu with bored eyes. ”What do you want? My treat, as promised.”

”A Happy Meal. With Diet Coke.”

Will is surprised. He doesn’t know what he was expecting, but a Happy Meal is definitely not it. He grins and gives Nico a wicked look in the dark of the car. ”Oh, do you want the toy, too?”

”Shut up.” Will can’t be sure, but he has a feeling that Nico is rolling his eyes. It’s almost audible in his voice. ”And since you’re paying, I think I actually want an Oreo McFlurry, too.”

Will did promise to pay, and he did bend over backwards to get Nico to come with him to the party in the first place, so he can’t really back down now. He gets a cheese burger for himself and a strawberry milkshake, and once they get their food he parks the car to the far end of the parking lot. There are a few other cars around, probably with similar agendas as theirs, but thankfully none of them are close enough that Will feels awkward pushing his seat back and wolfing down a burger before Nico is even halfway through his fries.

It’s been a long time since Will last saw an actual Happy Meal box. It hasn’t changed much, to be fair, but it’s still a little bit weird and kind of funny to see one now, especially in the hands of Nico di Angelo, who everyone in their school insists is an incurable bad guy. Will is pretty sure you can’t be a bad guy while gingerly opening a Happy Meal box, carefully as not to tear anything.

”So, I’m guessing there’s a story behind the Happy Meal.”

It’s dark, but there’s a streak of bright yellow light coming from the nearest lamp post, and in that light Will can see the corner of Nico’s mouth twist slightly downwards. ”Why do you think that?”

”Because you don’t strike me as a guy who just wakes up one day and decides he likes Happy Meals for no other reason than simply that he can.” Will takes a slurp of his milkshake. ”You don’t have to tell me. Just know that I just want to know you and I won’t judge. I mean”, he laughs a little and shakes his head, ”you just sat through almost twenty minutes of me singing to Spice Girls off key, and you didn’t judge. I think I owe you.”

”Oh I was judging you. I was judging you _hard_. I was just trying to keep it to myself.”

Will laughs a little, and then they fall silent again. It’s still more than a little awkward between them, but Will doesn’t want to pry, and he doesn’t know Nico well enough yet to know if he has crossed a line or not. Will is curious by nature, and he’ll be the first to admit that sometimes he’s a little bit too curious, which makes him act pushy and too eager a lot of the time. He’s tried to reign that in since moving here, and this right now feels a little like baptism by fire on that regard.

When Nico finally speaks, there’s something different in his voice than any other tine Will has heard him speak. Will can’t really put a pin on what it is, he just knows it’s different.

”My dad used to take me and my sister to McDonald’s every time he came home from base when we were little. He wouldn’t ask what we want, he’d just get us two Happy Meals with two different toys, and while Bianca and I fought over who got which one he would eat both our fries.”

”Charming.”

Will can almost hear Nico’s eye roll. He has never met anyone with quite so loud expressions before. ”They’re my favorite memories with Dad.” There’s the sound of crinkling wrapping paper when Nico takes the burger out from the Happy Meal box. ”I was tiny, I wouldn’t have eaten the fries anyway.”

Out of politeness, Will decides to hold off his questioning until Nico has finished his burger. He supposes none of this is really his business, and Nico has no reason to tell him anything, but Will is curious and wants to be Nico’s friend so he wants to know. ”And your dad is…”

”Not dead.” Will doesn’t want to admit that the way Nico was talking about things before, Will kind of thought that he was. ”I mean, he might as well be. He’s in the army, so I only see him a few days a year, at most.”

It’s… well, Will has to admit that in a way, this revelation is almost as sad as Nico’s dad were actually dead. And he’s not so sure what to think about the way Nico feels like his dad ”might as well be dead”. Both of Will’s parents are alive and well, so he has no idea what it’s like to have a parent die, but he does know what it’s like to lose one, and he’s not sure this compares. But then again, Nico’s dad did choose to leave, presumably. That must be more or less the same as Will’s mom not wanting him around anymore, maybe a little bit better.

Nico sighs as he moves on to enjoy his McFlurry. ”I guess I just like to remember how simple things used to be. You know, before I grew up and learned how fucked up the world really is.”

Well, that at least is something Will can relate to. He hums and slurps his shake.

They don’t talk much on their way back home, only stopping to throw their wrappers into a trash can on an abandoned pull-in. Nico fiddles on the car radio and manages to find a station that plays rock’n’roll classics, and Will thinks this is nice, hanging out with Nico without having to do much. They’ll be great friends, Will knows, if Nico just gives them a chance to be.

Back in front of Nico’s house Will watches as Nico gathers his camera things and leather jacket from the back seat and gets out of the car.

”Thanks for the food, Solace.” There’s something happening on Nico’s face. Will would dare say it’s almost a genuine smile – not a smirk, _a smile_. ”And the company, I guess. Tonight was surprisingly less of a disaster than I thought it would be.”

Without letting Will answer that, Nico shuts the car door and jogs to his house. Will looks after him, even after the front door is closed and he can barely see Nico through the ornate window. He can’t help but feel like he’s made some real progress tonight, and there’s a smile on his face when he finally restarts the car and goes home.

* * *

The Monday morning after the party is a borderline disaster. Grandma has already left the house for her weekly morning tea with Mrs. Davis next door, and Nico oversleeps big time. If she knew, Grandma would be extremely disappointed, but Nico has to skip breakfast if he wants to make it in school in time. He’s still pulling a hoodie over his head when he stumbles down the stairs and sees the fruit bowl.

Well. He can maybe eat a banana on his way. Shouldn’t be too hard. He picks one from the fruit bowl and is already putting on his shoes before it registers to him that it’s a little bit too ripe for his taste. _Well I can’t start being picky now_ , he thinks, already resigned to his fate.

Nico is usually never late. He’s really not a morning person, quite the opposite, so he has trained himself to wake up properly in the morning – if he hadn’t, he really would be late every single date, and he would never finish high school, and that’s the real nightmare right there. He watched his cousin Percy repeat one grade before his ADD and reading difficulties were diagnosed, and back then Nico promised himself he would never repeat a grade. Ever. He’s almost done, anyway, just a couple of years more. He can do this.

Nico is already on the front porch picking up his skate board when he hears the honk of the car horn that makes him jump. He looks up to the front of his house and sees Will’s car parked right at their mail box, Will’s stupid grinning face visible through the rolled down passenger side window.

”Come on, di Angelo, you don’t want to be late, do you?”

Nico leaves the skate board behind and walks up to the car. He leans down to give Will a long look. ”You seriously took a detour just to give me a ride?”

Will’s smile is playful. ”How do you know I took a detour? Maybe I live just a few blocks away and I would have taken this road anyway.”

Nico doesn’t believe it for a second. This is not a very big neighborhood, and he would _know_ if Will lived here. He also happens to have noticed Will taking the turn to the opposite direction from the school parking lot, so him coming all this way is really not nothing.

”What’s the catch?”

Will is still smiling, but there’s something more serious about it when he asks, ”Be my friend?”

It’s a weird request. No one in the 21st century asks to be friends with someone anymore. _But maybe they should_ , Nico thinks as he opens the door and takes his spot on the passenger seat, _because it actually works_. And as a bonus, it makes Nico feel good.

Nico closes the door and puts on his seat belt, and Will gives him the widest grin yet. It makes Will’s eyes look very nice.


	3. the one with the camping trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico looks at Will, feeling horror in his entire body. ”Who _are_ you?” He doesn’t even care that they’re making a scene in the middle of the isle in a supermarket, this is unacceptable. He thought he knew Will by now.
> 
> ”I don’t know, but you’re boring, Mr. Has Only Eaten Happy Meals At McDonald’s Since He Was Seven.”
> 
> ”This is different. What you do to those innocent s’mores is unholy. _Unholy_ , Solace.”
> 
> ”Didn’t know you to be that religious”, is Will’s only response as he insistently puts the jar of crunchy peanut butter in their cart. Crunchy. Nico can’t even look at Will. ”What’s next on the list?”
> 
> ”Salt crackers and betrayal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What would this story be without camping shenanigans? _Nothing_ , I tell you.
> 
> Regarding last chapter: I absolutely _love_ Xenia and had wished to include more of her and her family into the story, but that didn't really fit in as it is. HOWEVER, I do have plans to continue in this AU, so I might get a chance to further delve into her character there! Please be excited about that with me!
> 
> Please leave kudos and comment and share if you like this, any kind of feedback is very much appreciated to keep faith in this securely fading fandom.

Will has never been camping in his life. This, apparently, comes as a shock to his new friends when it comes up one day in late September, and a week later Lacy corners in their home room and tells him they’re going on a camping trip the following weekend, and that Will can’t say no because ”it’s a part of your initiation to the group”. Will wasn’t aware there was a group he was getting into, but he actually likes Lacy, so he’s not complaining.

Mr. Solace seems almost overjoyed when Will asks him if he can go. There’s a long talk about rules, and appropriate clothing, and when they would be coming back on Sunday, and where exactly they would be setting camp, and Will is given a new power bank to make sure his phone has battery in case of emergency. They retrieve Mr. Solace’s old sleeping bag from one of the still to be unpacked boxes in the garage, and Will learns a lot more about his dad’s youth than he cares to know. He’s not so sure he really wants to use the old sleeping bag after that, but he doesn’t want to seem ungrateful or risk not getting to go, so he smiles and doesn’t say anything.

Turns out that Lacy and Malcolm both go camping with their families regularly, so Malcolm says they already have enough tents for them before Will can even ask. Sleeping on the ground in the woods seems to be the main thing they think Will is going to be having troubles with, being a first-timer, but he quickly assures them that for one night he could sleep pretty much anywhere. Will is not a light sleeper, something his dad has teased him about in many occasions.

Nico isn’t originally part of their camping group. It doesn’t really even occur to Will to ask Nico to join them before Malcolm drops by at their table during lunch to discuss food. Nico is silent during the whole conversation about grilled veggie burgers and several snacks, half of which Will hasn’t even tried before, but once Malcolm returns to his own table Nico quirks a brow at Will.

”I didn’t know you were going on that trip, too.”

Will almost asks how Nico even knows about the trip, but then he remembers that Nico has stated Jake to be one of his best friends. Of course Jake would have talked to Nico about it. It actually surprises Will a little that Nico hasn’t brought it up before, seeing as Will has been hanging out with him after school pretty much every day for the past month.

”Yeah, Malcolm found out I’ve never been camping and he insisted I go with them.” Will picks on his food, moving the vestigial salad from one edge of the plate to another. ”Now that I think of it, I’m not entirely sure there even was a camping trip before I brought it up. It’s possible they threw this all together simply because they thought it’s unbelievable I’ve never been.”

”Well, it kind of is, so I don’t blame them. Seriously”, Nico shakes his head, as if he can’t believe what he’s hearing. ”Well, I wish you luck. I’ll come by to look for your bodies if I don’t hear from you for three days.”

”Very funny, di Angelo”, Will rolls his eyes so that Nico can’t see that his words did freak him out just a little. Then the most amazing idea comes to his mind and he grabs Nico’s arm (perhaps a little too tightly) and feels his whole face light up. ”Oh my god, Nico, why don’t you come with us? That would be so cool! Can you imagine it, the six of us sitting around the camp fire, telling ghost stories and eating s’mores, pretending to hear something howling behind us just to freak the others out…”

”You’ve read too many Nancy Drew novels.”

”I’m serious, Nico.” Will lets go of Nico’s hand just to show him how serious he is. He has a feeling he knows how Nico feels about physical contact, and he has been trying to reign himself in a little bit on that. ”Come with us. I’m sure Jake would be thrilled. And we would have so much fun, you can take your Polaroid camera and we’ll make great memories.” And then, as a cherry on top, the puppy eyes. ”Pretty please?”

Will hasn’t tried the puppy eyes on Nico yet, but he likes the affect they have on him. The tip of Nico’s nose goes red, and he turns his gaze away to the remains of his lunch. Even though his expression doesn’t change from the bored unimpressed look he has, Will has a feeling that it’s all just an act, now.

Nico clears his throat. ”And you’re sure the others wouldn’t mind? They have been talking about going just the five of you. I wouldn’t want to impose.”

”Nonsense! The more the merrier, I always say.”

”I have never heard you say that before.”

”But now you have!” Will beams at Nico, then turns to his phone before he can see the eye roll that is sure to follow. ”I’ll let the others know so that Malcolm can add you to the group chat.”

Nico says something about not agreeing on any group chats, but Will doesn’t listen. Half the time Nico is only bark and no bite, and Will prides himself in seeing the difference after such a relatively short time knowing each other. If Nico really didn’t want to be added to the chat, he’ll just exit it as soon a he’s added, and that’s that. Will isn’t too concerned.

For the rest of the day, Will floats on cloud nine. He can’t believe he gets to go on a camping trip – and with Nico, no less. He can’t wait.

* * *

”You are not seriously telling me that you put _peanut butter_ on your s’mores.”

Will doesn’t even have the decently to look apologetic about it. Instead he merely beams at Nico and hugs the glass jar tightly against his chest. ”It’s delicious.”

Nico looks at Will, feeling horror in his entire body. ”Who _are_ you?” He doesn’t even care that they’re making a scene in the middle of the isle in a supermarket, this is unacceptable. He thought he knew Will by now.

”I don’t know, but you’re boring, Mr. Has Only Eaten Happy Meals At McDonald’s Since He Was Seven.”

”This is different. What you do to those innocent s’mores is unholy. _Unholy_ , Solace.”

”Didn’t know you to be that religious”, is Will’s only response as he insistently puts the jar of crunchy peanut butter in their cart. _Crunchy_. Nico can’t even look at Will. ”What’s next on the list?”

”Salt crackers and betrayal.”

Will rolls his eyes and pushes the cart away, and Nico has no choice but to follow suit, even though he wishes he could have done more. But if he is being honest, he does need to be the adult here and Will have his way, otherwise Nico may not have a ride to the camping spot tomorrow.

If Nico had known that food shopping with Will was this exhausting both physically and emotionally (and possibly even spiritually, taken how Will can show such disregard of the holiness of s’mores) he probably wouldn’t have let Will volunteer them for snack duty. Jake and Lacy promised to provide them with actual foods, and Katie is in charge of sodas, and Nico would have much preferred to be in either of their teams on this. But he couldn’t have complained about it when the decision had already been made, now, could he?

(In a deeper part inside of Nico, a part that has not yet seen the light of day, Nico knows that he does, in fact, prefer Will’s company over the others. And that he’s only going on this stupid trip because of Will. And that Will’s hair looks nice today. But it’s possible Nico isn’t even aware of this part of himself yet, so he keeps rolling his eyes and muttering about disloyal consumers of camping goods.)

While Will goes through their check list, bouncing around the store without a proper plan and seriously taking a lot more time than is necessary, Nico follows behind and checks his phone. There’s a new message from Jake on the group chat, telling them to buy Oreos. Nico tells that to Will and they turn around once more, back to where they just came from, and Nico opens the weather forecast. He’s been checking it out every fifteen minutes all day; there was a note for possible rain for Saturday, and Nico was worried. The forecast has changed, now, and the chance of rain for all weekend has dropped down to 12 percent.

If Will were to catch Nico being this nervous about the weather, he would surely tease him about it, so Nico keeps this information to himself. He chooses to share the link only in the chance that there’s going to be a thunder storm tomorrow that would prevent them from going entirely.

In a more general perspective, Nico isn’t that sure what he thinks about the whole camping ordeal. It has been such a long time since the last time he went camping that he can’t even really remember if he enjoyed it a lot, and even if he did there’s no way of telling if he’ll like it this time. Many things have changed since then, Nico himself most of all, and he’s a little scared. But he has already told Grandma that he would be going, and she has made plans for herself for Saturday night, so it’s not like Nico can cancel.

And he doesn’t even want to cancel, not really. He’s not quite sure what it is, but something in Will’s enthusiasm is contagious, and Nico is looking forward to the trip, too. But there’s no way he’s going to admit that to Will, ever, not even if he is asked directly. _Especially_ not then.

”Do you think four bags or marshmallows is enough, or should we get five, just in case?”

Nico turns to look and sees Will holding several bags of XXL marshmallows in his arms. His head is barely peaking over the bags, and Nico can see his face doing that thing it does when Will is thinking way too hard. ”Are you serious?”

Will drops the bags in the art and gives them one more look, then nods in determination. ”I think you’re right. Let’s get six, just in case.”

”Will, _no_.”

* * *

Since Will has a car, he volunteers to drive Nico and himself to the camping grounds on Saturday. Malcolm sends them the location on their group chat (” _camping champs plus death kid_ ”) and Nico puts it on his phone’s GPS. Will comes over at Nico’s house to have breakfast on Nico’s grandmother’s insistence on Saturday morning, and they eat the most wonderful pancakes Will has ever tasted while they go over their shopping list one more time, just to make sure they haven’t forgotten anything vital. Nico keeps rolling his eyes at Will and telling him that they can forget things, that it’s not the matter of life or death, and that there’s a store close enough that no one is going to die either way, but Will barely listens. He’s way too excited for Nico’s negative inputs.

As soon as they’re in the car and on the road, Will puts on a playlist he made especially for this trip, and right away Nico groans next to him. ”Seriously? I should have known you were the road trip kind of person.”

”Of course I am the road trip kind of person! I feel like everyone is, even a little bit. Like, you must like _some_ aspect of a road trip, right?”

”Yeah, the part where it ends.”

”Oh come on, Nico, don’t be such an ass.” It’s a testament to how well Will already knows Nico that he can just say things like that and not be worried about it being taken the wrong way. Something about this realization makes Will giddy, but he doesn’t want to dive too deep into that just yet. ”This is going to be so much fun! He you been camping a lot?”

Nico hums and looks out the window at the changing scenery. ”Not really, not since Dad moved to Fort Lewis for good.”

Will has known that Nico’s dad is in the military, but Nico doesn’t really seem like he likes to talk about it that much, so this revelation is a little bit surprising. He also knows that Nico has two sisters, and if he has understood correctly from between the lines, the older one has followed their dad’s foot steps. Nico talks about the other one more, though, and Will is intrigued about the firecracker that Hazel seems to be.

”I remember you saying you don’t see him that often”, Will says, not daring to even glance at Nico. Instead he keeps his eyes on the road and grips the steering wheel tightly. ”Have you ever thought about going camping with your sisters?”

”No, Bianca is in the military full time, too, and Hazel isn’t really made for camping. She’s more for the urban bohemian life.”

Even though Will has never heard of urban bohemian life before, he knows instantly what type of a person Hazel is. She seems even cooler the more he hears about her. Will is betting he would get well along with her, if ever given the chance. He doesn’t say that to Nico, though, not wanting to seem like he’s only interested in his family. He’s not. He’s interested in Nico, most of all. (Yeah, that sounds about right.)

”Well, then, we’re just going to have to make sure that you enjoy this trip, so that we can go on another one in the spring. We can make a tradition of it!”

”Easy, tiger, let’s make it through this first trip in one piece first, then we can talk.” Will can hear the smile in Nico’s voice but doesn’t turn to look, no matter how much he wants to. ”Seriously, what is up with this music? If you want me to enjoy this trip, I’m changing this.”

Nico reaches over to unplug Will’s phone and turn on the radio, and Will lets him. He has a Bluetooth speaker with him, with a full battery, so he can still annoy Nico with his music all night. And it’s not like Nico is wrong; he does want Nico to enjoy this trip, and if the way to go is to let Nico change the music on the way over, then so be it. Will can live with that.

* * *

Nico has to admit that the spot Malcolm and Jake picked out is really nice. It’s just far enough from the nearest city center that going to the store in the middle of the trip is going to be annoying, but still close enough to the cell towers that if they pick their spot well enough they get internet on their phones. The luxury of camping in the 21st century.

It’s the edge of the forest, deep enough that they can’t see the road but not too far that they can’t hear it perfectly. There’s a fire pit and two picnic tables as well as a grass patch that’s cleared out for camping. Nico thinks that it would easily fit up to six tents, so they won’t have to put theirs up too closely together. There’s also an outhouse and a small well for fresh water, which is quite nice. Nico starts getting excited about the whole idea of camping when he picks up his backpack and hops out of the car.

Katie, Lacy, Malcolm and Jake are already there, going through their things and figuring out where would make most sense to assemble the tents. They’re pointing and talking all over each other as Nico approaches them and sees the dark green canvas bags on one of the picnic tables. The tents look decidedly older than what Nico thought they would, but he’s not too picky. For one night, he will make do.

As Will appears next to Nico and drops his bag on the ground, Katie finally turns to look at them and smile. Nico hasn’t spent that much time with Katie, but Jake says she’s cool, and Nico doesn’t have any reason to doubt him, so it’s just as well.

Now that Nico thinks of it, he only knows two of these people well enough to spend time with them outside of school. He doesn’t think he has even said a word to Lacy before this weekend.

”Okay, so!” Katie looks like she’s taken a role as their unofficial camp leader. Nico thinks she actually worked at a summer camp last year, and that makes it even a little bit funny. ”We have three tents, courtesy of Malcolm’s dad, so we can split into pairs. In the name of dignity I’m going to tell right off that I’m sharing with Lacy, but you boys can figure the rest out yourselves.”

Nico doesn’t care either way, but he is a little surprised that Jake agrees to share with Malcolm right off the bat. But when he thinks about it, it does make sense. Malcolm and Nico aren’t really that close (as in Nico has only played video games with him a few times at Jake’s house), and Will is the new kid that may be friendly to everyone but really has only gotten closer with Nico so far (Nico still can’t understand how that even happened). Meanwhile Jake and Malcolm have lived next door from each other since they were babies, and even though they don’t hang out that much they’re still very close.

”So that leaves you with me!” Will sounds way too enthusiastic about that, if Nico is being perfectly honest. Why would anyone over the age of twelve be so hyped about everything related to camping? ”This is so exciting!”

”I snore.” Nico doesn’t snore, but he has to try to temper Will down somehow or otherwise they will all go mad before tomorrow morning.

But Will just grins, as he usually does. ”I don’t even care. This is probably the best weekend of my entire year, and I’m not going to hate it just because you have chosen to!” He picks up one of the tents and heads out. ”Now come on, you’re going to have to tell me how to do this!”

Nico might not have been camping in years, but when he starts assembling the tent it all comes back to him in a flash, and the tent is up before they know it. Will is more a bother in this than he is of help, so Nico simply tells him to hold one corner of the fabric up (quite unnecessarily) while he does the rest of the work himself. Will doesn’t seem too bothered by this, he just grins and tells Nico he’s doing a wonderful job, and while it makes Nico roll his eyes it also feels nice to get recognition – after all, they only take about five minutes with their tent, and when Nico finishes he goes to help first with Lacy and Katie’s with theirs, and in the end Nico and Katie put up Jake and Malcolm’s tent entirely because Jake just managed to get tangled in the ropes.

”If I’d known how good you are at this I would have invited you camping with us years ago”, Jake says from where sits on the ground, picking on grass. He looks a little more bothered by his own uselessness than Will did, but he’s still smiling, so it can’t be that bad. ”You’re hiding your talents behind the camera lens, di Angelo.”

Nico rolls his eyes, and Malcolm puts it down in his note book – apparently he’s having some kind of bet going on with Katie, on how many times he’ll roll his eyes during the trip. Nico is afraid to hear the results, so he decides he’ll never ask.

They make hot dogs for lunch over the open fire, and Will plays some music from a Bluetooth speaker. Nico recognizes the playlist as the same one from the car ride, but he doesn’t let it bother him now. He focuses more on Jake’s retelling of his and Malcolm’s trip to Comic Con last year, and on not burning his food. Unlike Will, Jake and Lacy didn’t lose control of their shopping, so there are only so many hot dogs for them to ruin in poor attempts of cooking, so Nico is determined not to waste any of it.

Even though they spend the entire day doing basically nothing but gossip and goof around, Nico surprisingly doesn’t get bored. By Will’s suggestion, he took his camera with him, both the Polaroid and the DSLR, and he takes a lot more pictures than he thought he would. The camping spot is very aesthetically pleasing, especially when the sun finally starts setting and Nico finds the perfect angles to get the trees and the fire and the backs of his friends all in the same picture. He fills his memory with more and less perfect pictures that he knows he still will end up deleting most of at home, and only puts the DSLR away when his fingers start feeling like they’re freezing off.

Nico carefully packs the DSLR and walks back to Will’s car to put it on the back seat, covered up with two blankets to keep off the cold as best as they can. Nico has to admit that it’s very convenient to have a friend like Will have a car; he has brought more camera equipment to school with him in the past few weeks than he has in the last three years of school combined. It has increased the quality of his campus snap shots a lot, and even if no one else at their high school cares but Nico, it still matters a lot to him.

Tugging on the zipper of his coat, Nico decides to empty his pockets in the car, too – really, having the car here is super convenient. His pockets are full of Polaroid pictures, and when he pulls them out the one on top of the stack makes him stop and stare.

Getting to know Will hasn’t done anything to dull his charisma on camera. In fact, Nico thinks Will looks even better now, with the fire making his hair look more strawberry blonde and his head thrown back in laughter. There’s no one else in the picture, even though Nico knows that Malcolm is sitting just outside the frame. Will is holding a can of soda in one hand, the other coming close to his mouth in an attempt to cover it. Nico can almost hear Will’s laughter in that moment again, the deep sounding joy followed by a ridiculous snort. The moment is magical, and Nico is so very glad he has been able to capture it. After all, that is what made him interested in photography in the first place.

Nico is no idea why the picture affects him so much. He tugs the rest of the Polaroids into the front pocket of his camera bag, then sits on the seat with the car door open and looks at the picture of Will again. It really is a good picture, but Nico has no idea what he would even use it for. It’s not like he can use it on any general article about ridiculous high school gossip. He supposes he could give it to Will to use as he likes, but that doesn’t quite sit right with him, either. He doesn’t know what to do with the picture, but for some reason parting with it feels wrong, too.

”What are you doing here, all on your own?”

Quickly, Nico slips the picture back in his pocket before turning to give Will a scalding look. ”Well, I’m not on my own anymore, am I? Thanks for that, by the way.”

Nico has noticed lately that his rude comments affect Will less and less the more they spend time together. It annoys him, because Jake keeps saying that being rude is sort of Nico’s trade mark, and if being rude doesn’t work he has no idea how Will sees him. It’s a scary thought, not knowing what someone thinks of you, and Nico tries to not think about it too much to keep himself from getting a headache, or possibly an anxiety attack.

Will merely smiles. It’s dark enough now that Nico can’t see it in full effect, and he’s a little glad about that. ”You’re very welcome! Did you get good pictures?”

”Some”, Nico mumbles, forcing down the insistent blush that’s threatening to show itself on his cheeks. He hopes that any excess redness can be read off being from the cooling air of October night. ”Just packed the DSLR away. It doesn’t do well when it gets too cold.”

”Good.” Will leans against the car door, looking like the embodiment of cool and collected. Nico almost hates him a little bit. ”And I’m glad you got good shots. I told you this trip would be a good idea!”

Nico huffs a laugh. His breath turns to mist in the air. He didn’t realize it had already gotten that cold. ”Well, that’s still debatable. We’ll see how the night goes.”

”Who’s ready for some s’mores?” Lacy yells from where she has been kindling the fire, waving around one of the huge bags of marshmallows. Nico can see Will’s eyes take on that ridiculously excited spark again as he immediately turns and starts heading back towards her.

”Don’t let Will in charge of those or he’s ruin them from everyone!” Nico yells as he gets up and shuts the car door. ”Trust me, he’s a monster!”

Will turns to look at him, taking a few steps backwards just to say, ” _Rude_!” and then he’s running towards the fire. Nico can already tell he’s going to hide peanut butter in every single s’more so that Nico has no other choice but to either taste them or keep clear. He doesn’t know which one he’ll prefer.

Without thinking too much about it, Nico puts his hands in his pockets and follows Will back to the fire pit. His fingers grace the edge of the hidden picture of Will, and he decides that for one night, he is allowed to not figure everything out.

* * *

Nico doesn’t really understand whose idea it was to go on a camping trip in October. It’s freezing cold – like, the small creek by their camping spot literally has frozen from the edges. Nico is wearing a jumper on top of his flannel as well as two pairs of woolly socks and he’s still working hard to keep his teeth from clattering. Even Will, who claimed to be just fine when they were sitting by the fire not even thirty minutes ago, is wearing a beanie that makes his curly hair peek out from under it like a fur lining.

(If Nico thinks about it objectively, it’s rather cute.)

To be fair, Nico didn’t even really want to go camping. He likes the occasional night in a tent when the weather is nice and warm and sleeping in a tent is much more preferable than sweating in his bedroom indoors, but he’s not exactly passionate about driving somewhere that’s an hour away from the nearest supermarket just to burn some wood and sleep uncomfortably on the ground.

It’s just that Will _asked_ him. And Will is the kind of person that only has to smile and he gets what he wants, just like that. Nico hadn’t even really given it much of a thought before he had agreed, and seeing Will so happy about that had done something very weird to Nico’s own mood, and he hadn’t questioned his decision since then. (He almost feels like he should have, now, especially his reasoning behind it. It’s not exactly standard behavior for him.)

It’s dark in the tent, but not so dark that Nico hasn’t been able to adjust to it. He can see the outline of Will’s form just fine, and most of Will’s face, too. From the sound of shuffling, and what Nico can see and guess from Will’s movements, he assumes Will is just as cold as he is, shivering inside his sleeping bag and not trying to be too obvious about it.

”Are you okay?”

Nico doesn’t know what makes him ask that, and not something less loaded, like _are you cold_ , or _do you think we’ll all be frozen to death before morning_. Nico has been doing all sorts of stupid things lately, and most of them involve Will in one way or another, and that’s yet another thought Nico should revisit later, preferably in his own room where no one can prompt him to say or do something he will regret instantly after.

Since Nico can’t see Will’s face properly, he can only guess on his expression. ”I will be”, Will says quietly, ”once my body temperature evens out with the cold sleeping bag, that is. I knew it was going to be cold, but this is kind of ridiculous.”

Nico snorts. ”Tell me about it.” There’s a slightly louder shuffling sound as Will changes position, trying to get comfortable. Nico doesn’t know if it is accidental or not, but it does bring Will ever so slightly closer. ”You really haven’t been camping before? Not even when you were a kid?”

”No.” Will sounds sleepy, but not so sleepy that Nico regrets keeping him awake. ”My mom isn’t really the camper type. Dad apparently used to camp a lot in college, and with his first wife, but I really would prefer not to know too much about that. Dad is a little too open about things as it is.”

Nico remembers Will telling him that his dad is a therapist, so he can only imagine. The shudder that shakes his shoulder is not purely from the cold this time. ”I bet.” He watches as Will shudders again, too, and then his lips move before he can stop them. ”You know, there are plenty of ways that two people can help keep each other warm in these situations.” Nico knows it sounds a lot more suggestive than he has any intention to follow through with, but he doesn’t back down. He can’t, not now, not when he’s going to be stuck in this tent with Will for the rest of the night, anyway.

Will’s voice is shaky, but Nico doesn’t know if it’s because of the cold or his words or something else that he can’t see or hear. ”If you want me to strip for you, di Angelo, the answer is no.”

”You don’t need to strip to make out unless you want to.”

A silence follows Nico’s words, but only briefly. Then Will shuffles closer, this time on purpose, and with a little fumbling and after a few awkward angles their lips find each other in the dark, and Nico can almost hear Will squeak like a squirrel. It’s funny, and a little cute, and it strokes Nico’s ego in a way he doesn’t want to admit feels nice.

Even though this whole kissing thing was Nico’s idea in the first place, and it wasn’t a bad one either, it still feels really weird to be kissing Will. To be perfectly honest, this is far from the first time Nico has started kissing someone without really meaning to. Really, he just likes kissing, and many people seem to agree. It’s not that weird, and Nico doesn’t think too much about it at first.

But the thing is, this is the first time he’s making out with someone he actually considers a good friend. (When Will became one of his good friends, Nico has no idea. They have only known each other for a few months, and Nico isn’t the type to open up that easily. He knows that, he’s heard complains about it often enough.) For some reason it feels different than all the other times. The funny thing is, Nico can’t even tell what’s that different; Will isn’t a bad kisser, but he isn’t the best one Nico has kissed, either (he hates himself a little for noticing things like that), and even the situation isn’t exactly first of it’s kind. But something is undeniably different, and whatever it is, it makes Nico shuffle in even closer to Will until their legs tangle together as much as their sleeping bags allow, and smile when this causes Will to sigh quietly against his lips.

Will’s breath smells like mint – which, obviously, Nico did kind of expect, they did just brush their teeth. It’s warm when it hits Nico’s face, and as if on instinct Nico leans in to kiss Will again. And again, and again, and again. Their noses brush together, and Will’s cold fingers rest on Nico’s jaw, and little by little he stops feeling as cold.

Nico doesn’t know how long they keep kissing. Long enough for his toes to stop freezing off, that’s for sure, and long enough for any noises from the other two tents to quiet down. Eventually Will leans back, and though it’s completely dark inside the tent Nico has a feeling he’s being looked at.

”You were right.” Will’s voice sounds very different now. A little more breathy and winded, softer and – well, a lot closer. Nico can feel his breath against his own face, a warm contrast to the icy fingers tracing the line of his jaw to the ear and back to the underside of his chin. Nico thinks it feels nice, but something about this suddenly rings awfully wrong. ”This was an excellent way to keep warm. Better keep that in mind.”

Not knowing what to answer, Nico merely hums in response. His heart is beating faster by the minute, and no matter how many times he breaths in and out slowly, just like his therapist told him to four years ago, he can’t make it slow down. Will doesn’t notice anything, or if he does he doesn’t say, and just leans his head back on the folded sweater he’s using as a pillow. Nico supposes he’s already falling asleep, perfectly unaware of any demons taking place inside Nico’s head.

Nico still doesn’t know Will well enough to know what he is thinking right now, but there are two possible outcomes, and Nico isn’t fond of either of them. One possibility springs from what Will said to Nico last, about this being a good way to keep warm. True, Nico did say it first, so he can’t judge purely on that, but the way Will said is was so casual, so unassuming, that it set alarms ringing in Nico’s ears. Perhaps Will thinks this is just a random make out session in the woods, like Nico originally intended it to be. Maybe that’s all this was to Will, and come morning he will act like nothing ever happened.

If that is the case, then Nico is the one getting his heart broken. Because he’s now realizing that there’s more to the reason he wanted to kiss Will tonight. It has crept on him so secretly and under false pretenses that Nico hasn’t seen it until now, but he actually _likes_ Will. He likes hanging out with Will and talking about photography and basket ball and second hand stores and Will’s dreams about becoming a doctor. He likes taking pictures of their study sessions and explaining how Photoshop works, and he doesn’t mind Will asking seemingly stupid questions, and he really wouldn’t mind kissing Will again, in a different scenario where there are no ulterior motives of staying warm. Nico likes Will, and if Will doesn’t like him back he’s just setting himself to a painful school year.

The other possible scenario is that Will likes him back, and that could possibly give them a few weeks of joy. Nico relishes that thought, but then again he knows how each of his previous relationships have ended; it has always been the same, always only one person to blame, and that person is always, always Nico. He knows he will eventually end up breaking Will’s heart, sooner or later, and in doing so he will very likely break his own, too.

Which ever the answer is, Nico is screwed.

As soon as he’s positive Will is properly asleep, Nico rolls around until his back is turned on Will, and then he proceeds to have a slight panic attack.


	4. the one with all the feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ”I don’t know what to do, Dad.” Will feels like he has said those words so many times since the beginning of summer that they almost come automatically now. Will feels small when he closes his eyes and without stopping to reconsider it leans his head on his dad’s shoulder. His voice is small, and he feels the pressure in his chest and behind his eyes and he knows what’s coming, and the worst part is that he doesn’t even care anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In terms of POV, this is completely Will-centric. However, this chapter is very much about Nico, too, you'll see just how much, and I'm going to say it right now that this is very much self-reflection on my part and pretty much the entire reason for writing this story in the first place. I hope you can be kind to this as it's very important for me to share this.
> 
> And I feel like I should warn you that there is very much emotional hurt/comfort in this, but that much should be obvious from the chapter title anyway.
> 
> (Plus: I know this entire story is already dedicated to Jasmine, but this chapter deals with things I hold very dear to my heart so I want to say again that she has been a massive help both in my life and in creating this story, please show her some love by sending her cute asks on her Tumblr [vlindervin7] and by checking out her stories here on ao3.)

Will keeps his eyes on the road when driving back home. Next to him on the passenger’s seat Lacy is snoozing, and Malcolm is dead asleep in the back seat. The local radio station is playing some classic or another, filling the silence, but Will barely even hears it.

Nico had chosen to catch a ride back home with Jake and Katie.

Which, to be fair, is cool. Jake is probably Nico’s best friend, Will has gathered that much from context. It’s not like Will is ever trying to come in the middle of that. And it’s not like they had decided beforehand who would drive back with whom, Will had just made assumptions based on the fact that Nico had been happy to drive with him yesterday. In theory, Will has no right to be upset about Nico’s choice right now.

Except that Nico hasn’t spoken to him all morning. When Will woke up Nico had already left the tent and taken his camera stuff out of his car, and since then there has always been someone around. Nico hasn’t even looked in Will’s general direction, has basically gravitated away from Will in two different occasions, and didn’t bother masking his reluctance to be trapped in a car with Will when splitting up to head back into town.

Will isn’t the kind of person to go kissing people on camping trips without feeling something for them. Or at least he hasn’t been before. Like, he hasn’t even actually kissed a guy before Nico, and this was his first ever camping trip, so there’s that. But the point stands, that every time Will has kissed someone before he has at least _thought_ he has feelings for them, and this weekend he made out with Nico di Angelo just to keep warm. He doesn’t have feelings for Nico, right?

_Right?_

Well, at least Will didn’t _know_ he had feelings for Nico until this weekend, that much he is sure of. There is a chance he has been developing something small under radar in the past few weeks, but if there even has been anything real Will has just ignored it or listed it under the excitement of everything still being so new to him here. Whatever it is, it has surely not been grand enough to affect any conscious decisions – which, Will is now loathe to admit, the making out was.

But whatever is going on in Will’s end, that doesn’t explain Nico’s total avoidance today. It’s beyond rude, and Will feels a painful twist in his gut every time he thinks about Nico’s grimace when he sat down next to him at one of the picnic tables.

Will drops off Malcolm first and helps him bring the tents to his garage, and then he wakes up Lacy to give him directions to her house. She wakes up just enough to tell him where to turn, but as she thanks him for the ride she looks more like a zombie than a human being.

There are no new messages in his phone when Will checks his phone once he has parked his car in front of his house. It’s not really like he’s expecting anything, not exactly, but he doesn’t really get why Nico acted the way he did this morning, so maybe Will is just waiting for Nico to text and explain himself. Surely he’s going to do that much, right? Nico is nice, and not particularly impolite, if a little thoughtless sometimes. But Will is pretty sure they’re past that now. They’re friends, after all.

”Welcome home, champ!” his dad greets Will as soon as he walks through the front door. ”How was camping? Already itching to get back to be one with the nature?”

Usually Will finds his dad’s humor amusing at the very least. He knows Dad is trying really hard sometimes, and that at some point Will is going to have to tell him that he’s not half as funny as he thinks he is. But right now, in this state of mind, Will doesn’t feel up to indulging his dad in stupid jokes and anecdotes that are almost as funny as cancer.

”Whatever”, he mutters, kicking off his shoes and hanging up his coat. ”I didn’t really sleep that well last night, so I think I’m going to bed.”

If his dad finds this odd, he doesn’t say it. ”Okay, but shower first. You smell like smoke and sweat.”

”Whatever”, Will says again, then makes his way to his room, probably slamming the door closed a little too heavily behind him. He doesn’t really mean to be acting out to his dad, he knows that. It’s just very hard to keep all his emotions in check when he’s both pissed off and confused.

Setting his backpack on his bed, Will checks his phone again. Still nothing. Will sighs, then opens up his WhatsApp, and the conversation he has with Nico. The second to last message on it from him, telling Nico that he was leaving his house yesterday before driving up to pick up Nico. The simple thumbs up emoji underneath it mocks Will now.

_Hey_ , he writes without thinking too much, _I had a fun weekend. See you at school tomorrow!_

Will hits send before he can talk himself out of it, then closes his screen and tosses the phone across the bed. He ignores the phone the best he can while he unpacks, then picks up a sweater and some shorts and heads to the bathroom for a shower. His dad was right, he does stink.

Communicating with another human being should not be this difficult, especially in this day and age. Messaging has been made instant and easy, and Will is one of those people who is used to getting a reply within fifteen minutes of sending the initial message. He has learned that Nico can take a little longer responding, but he usually still answers after half an hour at the latest. Without really meaning to (or, well, maybe he does mean to, he’s ready to believe anything at this point) Will spends well over twenty minutes in the shower, and another ten putting his clothes in the washing machine and staring at it for a good while without actually seeing it. By the time Will returns to his bedroom it’s been almost forty minutes. He picks up his phone again and takes a deep breath.

Still no new messages. Will sets an alarm and places his phone face down on the night stand, trying not to think about it but knowing it’s going to be a long Sunday.

* * *

The Monday following is not any better. Nor is the Tuesday, or the Wednesday. By Thursday morning Will knows better than to make the extra round to pick up Nico for school, because Nico is just going to walk past the car like it isn’t even there, but he goes anyway and almost cries when Nico doesn’t even look up from his shoes. Will wants to think that Nico knows what he’s doing is just all wrong, but the truth is that Will has no way of really knowing, and so he is left to his own devices.

Since Will apparently isn’t allowed to sit with Nico at lunch again (he tried that on Monday, but Nico got up as soon and Will sat down and threw his half eaten lunch to the trash on his way out), Will sits to the closest empty table he can find. Lacy and Malcolm sit with him, but he isn’t sure how well he keeps up with the conversation. He’s not really listening, just following Nico with his eyes across the cafeteria and hoping for even a small nod in his direction. It’s really pathetic, Will is aware, but since he has been given zero answers it’s all he can do right now.

Will would like to say he has never been avoided like this before, that the novelty of the situation takes some blow off from the action. But he has, and it doesn’t. It’s just as painful as you’d think, and Will feels worse than he has felt since moving here.

Thankfully Will has work on Thursday after school, so he doesn’t have too much time to wallow in it. He distracts himself with making popcorn and selling tickets and cleaning the bathroom, and when the clock strikes nine he realizes he hasn’t had the time to think about Nico once since his shift started.

This, unfortunately, doesn’t continue as he walks to his car. It’s not only that the whole situation is confusing and annoying, it’s also exhausting, and Will has trouble sleeping most nights as it is. He doesn’t _need_ this kind of a distraction right now.

After coming home Will barely has the energy to walk to the couch in the living room and pick up the remote. Anything school related is out of the question, even though there’s an essay deadline looming in the way too near future that he hasn’t even started working on yet. Will simply can’t focus on it right now, or the cop show coming from TV, or anything.

Will didn’t know he could feel this way. No one had told him that once you become friends with someone you shouldn’t develop any deeper feelings for them, because it will only hurt that much more when they ignore you. Friendships should come with a user’s manual, really. ”This is your new Friend. Do not hurt your Friend. Do not fall in love with your Friend. If you fall in love with your Friend, please contact the manufacturer, the number is listed below.”

Letting out the sigh of the century, Will drops his head back against the couch cushions and lifts his feet on the coffee table. If his dad says something about that Will simply might not care.

Like summoned, Mr. Solace comes out of his office just then and looks at Will. There must be a certain aura around Will, because his dad already looks a bit worried and comes to sit next to him on the couch, putting his feet on the coffee table next to his. Will almost snorts when he realizes they’re wearing matching polka dot socks.

”Boy trouble?”

Will doesn’t even bother saying anything, just huffs a breath and changes channels again. This time what he sees is a nature documentary and the soothing voice of the narrator is monotone enough that he he leaves it on and drops the remote controller next to him on the couch. He picks up one of the decorative pillows and hugs it to his chest.

Mr. Solace wiggles himself deeper between the cushions and Will rolls his eyes. ”Okay, I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t really expect this today, but very well.” There’s a pause, during which they watch a baby giraffe learn to walk. ”Do you want to talk about it?”

To be honest, at first Will isn’t so sure that he does. He knows he can talk to his dad about anything, and his dad is a really good listener (to be fair, he does listen to people for a living), but there are certain things you don’t care to share with your family. But then Will thinks about the other people he would want to talk about this with, and realizes he’s very low on options. Cecil and Lou Ellen would listen, but there’s something odd about talking about such personal things on the phone or through Skype. And here, the only other person Will thinks he’s close enough for this is also the very person behind his suffering.

It’s all just a big mess, and Will is tired. So he ends ups spilling the whole story to his dad. From the first week of school how he became determined to befriend the school paper journalist, how they went to that party and shared stories over Happy Meals. He tells his dad about how he’s been picking up Nico every morning for school, and how they’ve spent many afternoons studying together, and how Nico takes very nice artsy pictures of their snacks and then adds cheesy inspirational quotes on them in Comic Sans. Then Will talks about the camping trip, about sharing a tent with Nico, and the kisses. And about the morning after.

Will’s dad is quiet as Will explains how he felt when he went to school on Monday and Nico acted like he was nothing more than air. Will has never been bullied, per se, not really, but he knows this borders on how some of the people in his old school acted when he came out as gay last spring. Will has told his dad about that (Will has told him quite a bit of things he never thought he would, since they decided to move away from Corsicana), and he knows without looking that Mr. Solace’s brows are furrowing in worry.

”I’m sure he doesn’t mean to hurt me, exactly”, Will says, even though he has no idea _what_ it is that Nico is meaning because it’s just all wrong. Will doesn’t know why he feels the need to defend Nico, after the way Nico has been acting all week, but he does, and he’s not going to back down on that. ”I just want to know _why_ he’s doing this.”

Mr. Solace humms in a way Will would imagine he hums with his patients at the office, and that sometimes rubs Will the wrong way. But he doesn’t really have anyone else riht now, so he can’t let himself be bothered by that simple sound too much.

”Have you tried talking to him?”

”It’s pretty hard when he acts like I don’t even exist anymore.” But Will has tried. Every day. He doesn’t share classes with Nico, but he has tried seeking him out during lunch, after school, he has shown up in front of his house in the mornings to give him a ride only to see Nico taking out his skate board again, even when it’s pouring rain, and rolling past him like he can’t see Will there at all. Will’s heart clenches painfully when he thinks about that. ”It _hurts_ , Dad.”

It doesn’t hurt only because Nico is the first boy Will has ever truly had feelings for, or because he enjoyed kissing Nico on the camping trip and now it doesn’t seem like he can have that anymore. It hurts because before that, before crushing on Nico and having silly day dreams and before making out ”to stay warm” (seriously, Will would laugh if he wasn’t hurting so much), Will was starting to consider Nico one of his best friends. Definitely the best in the new school, but also maybe the closest one in general, too. Nico is fun to be around, and he’s clever and talented with what he does, and he makes Will feel respected even when he talks about something silly like trying out for the cheerleading squad.

Nico is a fiercely good friend, and losing that hurts at least as much as losing a potential boyfriend. And that’s not something Will is okay with.

”I don’t know what to do, Dad.” Will feels like he has said those words so many times since the beginning of summer that they almost come automatically now. Will feels small when he closes his eyes and without stopping to reconsider it leans his head on his dad’s shoulder. His voice is small, and he feels the pressure in his chest and behind his eyes and he knows what’s coming, and the worst part is that he doesn’t even care anymore.

Moving away from Corsicana was supposed to be the moment Will left all the bad feelings behind him. His new life was supposed to be a success, he was supposed to be happy and feel on top of the world. He knows it sounds stupid, but Will had really hoped that he could have it all, and yes, right now this feels more like the end of the world like the top of it.

Mr. Solace shifts so that Will can lean on him a little more comfortably, and then there’s the familiar weight of his arm on Will’s shoulders. ”I don’t think there’s much that you can do, besides talking to him.” Will knows this, but it still makes him feel a little defeated to hear his dad say it out loud. ”Give him time. Chances are that he’s feeling just as confused as you are. I’m sure everything will work out just fine.”

It’s a thought that doesn’t give Will much hope. After all, if they’re both confused and hurt and not talking about it, they’re possibly going to be stuck in this weird limbo situation for the rest of the school year, and who knows, maybe after that it will be way too late to even try to talk. Will is pretty sure that something needs to happen as soon as possible if he still wants to stay in friendly terms with Nico at all.

Will sits there for a long while, allowing himself be comforted by his dad while they watch the documentary without really seeing it. (Or maybe Mr. Solace is actually interested in it, Will wouldn’t know. Nor would he care, to be perfectly honest.) Will can feel a few tears falling down the bridge of his nose, but he refuses to wipe them away because the movement would make his dad aware of the tears, too, and then Will would have to talk about them. He’s done talking, at least with his dad.

”Can we have Chinese tonight?” Will asks, mostly just to change the subject. His dad will probably try to pick up the conversation again later this week, but Will thinks he might be better prepared by then.

Mr. Solace squeezes Will’s shoulder before getting up the couch. ”Sure. Do you want the usual or do you want me to find the menu?”

”The usual’s fine.”

Will goes back to flipping the channels with unseeing eyes, but this time his mind is racing at a hundred miles an hour. He thinks his dad has a point, but then again he’s also very wrong. Nico has had plenty of time. It’s time Will matters to his own hands.

* * *

Will knows it could be considered dramatic and ”making a scene” to drive over to Nico’s house at almost eleven at night to demand answers. He knows he’s taking a risk, that Nico could very well use this against him and make his life quite miserable. He also knows that if he thought about it more closely, he would realize that he’s not being really fair to Nico and that four (almost five) days of not talking to each other doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something terribly wrong between them.

But then again, Nico hasn’t been very fair to Will, either. Will thinks he kind of has the right to be at least a little bit pissed off, and kind of hurt, because kissing someone and then not talking to them _at all_ afterwards is decidedly _not cool_. He has been trying to work things out inside his own head all week, but right now he thinks that he can’t have a two person conversation on his own.

So after the movie ended and his dad went to bed, Will took his car keys and drove. He’s going to be in so much trouble if his dad finds out he left the house in the middle of the night.

Well, he’s here now. All Will can do is hope that Nico hasn’t blocked his number when he sends him a simple text. _I’m on your front porch. I need to talk to you_.

Will hasn’t been to Nico’s house before. He’s only waited in the car out front. Well, truthfully he can’t count this to being _in Nico’s house_ , either, considering he’s only by the porch, not even daring to walk the few steps up to the door. This is a terrible idea. What if Nico’s grandmother is still awake? What if Nico doesn’t come out, despite the message? Will can see that Nico has read the message. Nico could even call the cops. And what if Will’s dad realizes he went out? What if –

Someone turns on the outdoor lights, and Will can see movement through the front door window. He doesn’t have the time to turn away and run before the door opens and Nico slips outside.

”Will?” Nico says when he shuts the door behind him, folding his arms around himself against the cold of the October night. ”What are you doing here?”

Nico is wearing a jumper again. It’s dark green, it looks home made and it has ornate white patterns on the hem as well as the wrists. Will isn’t close enough to recognize what the patterns are. The sleeves are long, and Will can only see the tips of Nico’s fingers peeking from them. All in all, Nico looks cuter than Will thinks is fair, considering the circumstances.

But no. Will is not here to think about how cute Nico looks in a sweater that his grandmother made him. Or to think about the fact that Nico must be really sweet with his grandmother, or how Will would love to meet her because judging from the knitting and all the flower pots on the porch she must be an amazing woman.

Will takes a deep breath and straightens his back. ”I just feel like you owe me some kind of explanation.”

”I don’t owe you – ”

”But you do!” Will doesn’t mean to raise his voice, especially since they’re outside and he doesn’t want to draw attention, but he’s frustrated and hurt. ”You know, everyone tried to warn me about you. Literally everyone I met during my first week here told me that you’re bad news, that I shouldn’t get too close because you would probably just end up hurting me anyway. And I did anyway, I became your friend, and – and – ” It becomes hard to look at Nico’s eyes, so Will looks at his feet instead. Nico isn’t wearing any shoes, and his socks don’t match. ”And I just think you’re so much fun to be around, and I like spending time with you, and you have a really nice laugh, and then after we kissed you suddenly acted like I didn’t even exist, and I need to know _why_.”

A silence follows Will’s words, during which three cars drive past the house behind Will. Will doesn’t turn to look. He keeps his eyes on Nico’s socks for a while, but when Nico says nothing he finally gathers his courage and looks up. There’s something defeated in the look of Nico’s eyes, but at the same time he looks like a wild animal that has been cornered. Scared and ready to fight, with nothing left to loose. Will isn’t sure he likes that look on Nico, or anyone for that matter.

”People told you I’m bad news?” Nico’s voice isn’t that loud. In fact, it’s a lot softer than Will’s, and Will finally steps up to the porch so that neither of them have to speak any louder.

”Yeah, they – ”

”Well they were right.” The words clip through Will’s mind like a sharp knife thrown to a watermelon. (Will saw a video once and has been intimidated since.) Will looks down again. ”So I would suggest you listen to the people who have known me for way longer than you have, and back off before anyone gets hurt.”

Because Will keeps looking at Nico’s feet, he can see how Nico switches from one foot to the other in a way that screams restless. It’s almost like Nico wants to run back inside, close the door and lock it, and never see Will again. If Will thinks about it, he would probably want to do that too, were it him in Nico’s shoes. Or, well, socks.

But Will came here, ready to talk and probably just as scared as Nico is right now. He’s not backing down. He will wait here on this porch for the whole night if that’s what it takes to get to the bottom of this.

So with yet another deep breath, Will tries again. ”I still don’t understand why you wouldn’t just – ”

”Because I _like_ you, okay?”

Nico looks almost broken when Will finally looks back up at him. His face is pale but his ears are tinted red, and it’s hard to tell if that’s because of the cold or something else. His eyes are squeezed shut now, like he wants to keep the world out, and when Will looks closely enough it looks like Nico’s whole body is trembling. It’s cold outside, but not quite that cold, and maybe that’s what finally makes Will fully realize that this week may not have been that easy for Nico, either.

And it’s only then that Nico’s words register to him. _Because I like you_. The words make Will’s heart squeeze pleasantly, but the way Nico says them makes Will wonder. It’s almost like Nico hasn’t actually liked any of his previous boyfriends, and yes, that would make Nico kind of a bad person, but it’s also really sad.

”I like you”, Nico repeats, and this time it makes Will’s heart squeeze almost painfully, ”and I don’t want to hurt you, so this week I’ve tried my best to keep away. For both our sake.”

It’s the most that Will has heard Nico talk at all since Saturday night, so that’s already a win. But the more Nico talks, the more questions Will has, and he feels like a little child that keeps arguing about the same thing over and over again, but this thing has got to stop. ”But then I don’t see what the problem is, if you do like me, I mean. I don’t – ”

Nico lets out a small frustrated growl and Will snaps his mouth shut. ”They told you about my past boyfriends, right? That I left them without telling them why?” Nico rubs his face and looks so tired that Will almost feels sorry for him. ”Well, that’s because no one wants to hear that their boyfriend is so broken that he doesn’t even want to have sex with them.”

Even if Will did know what to say, the look on Nico’s face would have kept him from saying it anyway. All Will can do is stare as Nico heaves a breath, and another, and another, and then talks again with that same tired and desperate voice.

”I always told myself that this time would be different. That this time I wouldn’t chicken out like a little kid. But then they’d have their hands all over me, on my hips and – and under my shirt and trying to open my jeans and…” Nico swallows quite audibly. ”And I’d just freeze. I can’t really explain it, I just panic, every single time, and I don’t know how to tell them to stop in a way that doesn’t make them think that I find them, you know, unattractive or something. It’s not about that. I don’t think I consider people attractive the same way others do.” Nico rubs his face again with his fists. ”It’s really frustrating.”

Will tries to imagine himself in those situations, with someone trying to undress him and him not wanting them to. He can see how terrifying that can be. And he can also kind of see how Nico’s reluctance can be taken the wrong way, when Nico doesn’t sound like he ever even tried to explain what it was about the situation that made him so uncomfortable in the first place.

In the end, Will has no idea how he himself would have reacted. He doesn’t even know if he would have let anyone open his jeans; he’s nowhere near ready for that kind of thoughts yet. And the point here is that for the first time ever, probably, Nico is trying to explain how _he’s_ feeling in those situations. And Will wants to understand.

”So you see why I can’t be with you?” Nico concludes his explanation. ”Why would you want to be with someone so broken, anyway? I can _never_ give you what you want.”

Nico quiets down, and Will watches as he takes more deep breaths, in and out and in and out. He looks like he’s just ran a marathon, and he just as well could have. Will thinks emotional marathons should be a thing, for when you go through something heavy and fundamental like this and on top of it have the courage to put it in words and share it with someone. Will thinks Nico is unbelievably brave, and now he’s finally starting to understand the reasoning behind Nico’s actions. He still doesn’t agree on the solutions, but at least he sees where Nico is coming from.

”You know”, Will says, taking a step closer to Nico, still keeping his eyes somewhere around his shoulders. He’s usually great at eye contact, but looking at Nico is hard right now. ”I had never even kissed a guy before. I hadn’t thought it would be any different from kissing girls, but”, he has to pause to let out a small nervous laugh, ”I was so wrong.”

It still feels odd, talking about these kinds of things so openly. He spent so much time pushing that side of him down, hiding it until he was sure so that his mother wouldn’t find out, that now that he’s free to be himself it almost feels wrong, in a way. But at the same time is liberating and refreshing, and Will can’t wait for the time in the future when talking about these things is like second nature to him.

There are still many things about this that Will doesn’t understand, but Nico’s words trigger something in him. In the past year, Will has made a lot of research on the LGBTQ+ community and history and terminology, trying to understand himself and find words to describe what he’s been feeling. And what Nico is saying is like straight from one of the conversations he read last winter but dismissed quickly for not being very relevant or timely for him. He’ll need to find that forum again.

”And you know, second of all, stop saying you’re broken, because I don’t think you are”, Will says, feeling actually a little bit hopeful for the first time since Saturday night. Nico’s words have brought to his mind some terminology and conversations that he eyed briefly when he was trying to figure things out himself. ”There are actually a lot of people out there that feel the same way about that stuff as you do, and it’s perfectly normal.”

”What are you – ”

”I’m no expert”, Will continues, because he wants Nico to understand some things now, and he can’t be interrupted because this is now an important conversation on a whole new level from before. ”Honestly, I was concerned about different forums entirely, but you’re far from the first person to tell me they don’t like the idea of having sex. And I’m not saying this as a teenage son of a therapist, like, I’m not going to force on you the bull shit about us being young and that you’ll get the urges later and what not, ew, no. If I’ve learned anything in the past year it’s that you need to own who you are, and that who you are is valid and real. You don’t have to force society’s sex grazed hetero-normative ideologies on yourself to feel good, you can feel good about yourself just the way you are if you just accept it.”

Will knows he sounds like a self care pamphlet. He doesn’t particularly care. Nico is looking at him, and his eyes are shining under the porch lights, and Will thinks this could be one of the most important moments of Nico’s entire life. Will feels so honored to be able to be a part of it, no matter how things turn out, but either way he hopes he can be there for Nico to help him figure things out.

”You are not broken”, Will repeats himself, because Nico looks like he really needs to hear it. ”And neither am I. Everyone is just built differently, and sometimes the blue prints have been lost and we need to learn things the hard way.”

At that, Nico gives a small snort. ”Your dad told you that one, didn’t he?”

”He sure did. It’s going to be in his new book that comes out next spring. Pre-order now and get a twenty percent discount on delivery.”

It’s so good to see Nico smiling. There’s something different about his smile now and the one Will saw last week, even before the camping trip. It’s almost like all this time Nico has been hiding a side of himself from Will, a side that is a big part of him, and he’s only now letting it shine through. Will has known Nico is attractive since the first day of school this fall, and has been at least a little bit attracted to him for weeks now, but it’s all very different when feelings and fears and insecurities are laid out like this, open for observations and judgement.

”You don’t get to tell me what I want”, Will says, taking Nico’s hands in his own shaking ones and forcing them close to each other. Nico’s hands twitch, like he still wants to run away, but only for a second. After that Will can feel Nico holding onto him just as tightly. ”But I’ll tell you what I want. I want to hold your hand when we walk to the school from the parking lot. I want to kiss you when I see you in the morning and when I drop you off after school. I want to take you out on dates and watch you eat Happy Meals on the passenger’s seat.” Will can feel his throat getting tighter, and he tries to swallow around it. ”I want to be with you, however you feel comfortable. And I want to be honest with you, and I want that same honesty in return.” Nico looks at him and Will can’t read his expression as well as he’d like. But they have time. ”Is that something you think we can do?”

Will isn’t sure he can stand a negative response right now. Here he is, standing in the cold on Nico’s porch, and his hands are freezing and he really should have brought a coat, or at least another jumper. He has laid all his feelings out for Nico to either stomp on and dismiss, or cherish and nurture. The few seconds it takes for Nico to say something are some of the longest in Will’s life.

”Yeah. I think it is.” Will lets out a breath he hasn’t even realized he’s holding, and something in his gut loosens. ”I mean, it doesn’t sound too hard.”

Will lets out a little laugh. Nico is such a dork. ”Trust me, it’s going to be hard”, Will says, and he’s not able to keep the smile off his face anymore. ”But I think we can work it out together, so that way it’s a little easier.”

Nico’s hands in his feel very nice. Will has never really held hands with anyone – well, not since third grade, at least. There is a surprising comfort of feeling someone else’s hand in yours, feeling the warm skin and, if you’re holding tightly enough like Will is, getting a hint at the other person’s pulse. Nico’s is a little quicker than Will expected. He hopes that’s a good thing.

”And since we’re being honest now”, Will continues, leaning a little bit closer still, ”I would really like to kiss you right now. If you allow.”

Nico is almost exactly the same height as Will. This means that neither of them needs to bend down or reach up; all they have to do is lean forward, and their lips touch. And it’s just as wonderful as Will remembers, and even more so now that they have talked. Nico’s lips are dry and possibly chapped, but he’s gentle and tender and so good that he doesn't even really have to do anything to make Will’s toes curl inside his shoes.

If Will were a little more brave, he would let his arms wrap around Nico and hold him close until they wouldn’t be able to tell where one person ends and the other begins. He would tell Nico all the things that have been on his mind in these past few weeks, the little and the small. He would explain with excruciating detail why exactly he likes Nico, and then he would catalog in his mind every shade of pink on Nico’s cheeks.

Maybe some day Will does that. Some of it he can maybe even do sooner rather than later. But right now he’s just happy with the simple kiss he gets, and the second one too, and the little peck before Nico leans back properly and they open their eyes to the world.

”Hi”, Will breathes, suddenly feeling breathless at the sight of Nico looking at him like that.

Nico bites his lip. ”Hi.” There’s a pink layer dusting his cheeks that Will finds extremely adorable. ”I liked that.”

”I like you.”

”Well that’s just unfair.” Nico doesn’t look like he’s too mad about that, though, if his smile is any indication. Nico doesn’t normally smile that much. He doesn’t look unfriendly, that’s not what Will means, but he saves his smiles to moments when there are less people around, when he finds something genuinely nice or funny or amusing. Will is glad to see him smile now.

Will is glad about a lot of things right now. He feels like he’s going to need a whole weekend of solitude just to figure out all the things he is feeling now, but at the same time he never wants to let go of Nico’s hands, or stop looking at Nico’s smile. It’s intoxicating; a lot of things about Nico are, as Will is starting to learn. He can’t wait to learn everything.

Nico bites his lip briefly before he leans in again and surprises Will with another kiss, quick and sweet just like the previous one. ”I like you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to point out this is only one take on asexuality, and a very valid one in that. This story by no means is meant to show a whole range of different sexualities etc, this is just my take on it, and I hope I do it justice in this chapter. Please let me know what you think!


	5. the one with thanksgiving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Nico, dear, is Will coming over for dinner tomorrow, or does he have plans with his father?”
> 
> Before Nico can so much as think about answering, Thalia turns to look at him, her eyes gleaming like a maniac’s. ”Who’s _Will_?”
> 
> Nico feels himself blushing even though he tries to fight against it and glare at Thalia for snooping. ”Why do you say his name like that?”
> 
> ”Who _is_ he?”
> 
> ”Why do you want to know?”
> 
> ” _Nico_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the love and support and comments on this story, they are all very much appreciated!! This time we get to meet a few new people, are we excited???
> 
> I wish everyone very happy holidays, and if you're not celebrating any holidays for any reason at all (or for no reason tbh I get that) then I still wish you the best of weeks and hope you get to pet a dog every day for the rest of the year.

Probably the most difficult part of not living in Corsicana anymore is that Will no longer gets to see Lou Ellen and Cecil every day – although some might argue that this is actually a good thing if he wants to keep his sanity. He has known those two for all his life, and not seeing them for weeks and months is not something that has ever happened, and something he hadn’t thought would make him as sad as it has.

Will’s friendship with Cecil and Lou Ellen is the kind where you can apparently go without speaking to each other properly for two weeks and still find it easy as breathing to jump right back into the look with them when they do get a chance to talk. Sure, it’s still through Skype, but it’s so much better than just texting each other in the group chat, and Will is just grateful for Past Will to not try into the basketball team at the start of the school year, because had he made the team he would be in the bus right now, on his way to a tournament. He shares this with his friends, and they both agree that Past Will was indeed a wise man.

While it’s nice to talk about his new life, it’s also a little hard to realize that, while Will’s life has changed entirely since moving away, Lou Ellen and Cecil still do the same things, go to the same places, and hang out with the same people thy used to even with Will. It makes Will feel a little like he’s living in two different universes at once, stuck in a kind of a limbo. He wonders if that feeling will ever really go away.

(Maybe it will, once Will sees Lou Ellen and Cecil in the places he goes to now. Or maybe when Nico meets them. That thought is single-handedly the most wonderful and also the most terrifying thing Will can imagine.)

Will can’t really get too sad about that, though. He has new routines now, and hangs out with new people. It is to be expected in their situation, and Will’s dad would even say it’s healthy. And when Will tells Cecil and Lou Ellen about Nico and Lacy and Malcolm and Katie and a little more about Nico (he might actually talk about Nico more than he should, considering he’s still supposed to be doing his homework while Skyping)

After updating Cecil and Lou Ellen about his life and hearing about the latest gossip from his old school, Will lapses into an easy silence with them. It’s nice and comfortable, and it allows Will to read the next passage from his text book, even though he probably won’t be able to focus on the following problem properly. It’s always been like this, for as long as Will can remember, and he almost starts counting the seconds until someone (probably Cecil) says something again.

”I thought about egging your mom’s car today”, is what Cecil chooses to say to fill the silence next. It takes Will a good five seconds to understand what he heard, then he snaps his head up and gives Cecil’s image on his screen a horrified look.

”Cecil, _no_.”

Cecil rolls his eyes. ”Why do you always talk to me like I’m a disobedient dog? And don’t worry, Lou stopped me before I did.”

”Yeah, but only because we didn’t have any eggs and I was out of cash.”

Will drops his head on the table and whines to his text book. ”Oh. My. _God_. Can’t you two behave like human beings for just _one day_?”

”Who’s to say we don’t behave? You’re not here to see us every day anymore, maybe we have turned into model citizens!”

”You don’t seriously expect me to believe that, do you?” While Cecil and Lou Ellen might be proper people in a very loose interpretation of the word, they’re in no way model citizens. At least they weren’t when Will lived in Corsicana. They turned in their school work in time, didn’t cut class, didn’t steal or vandalize public property, didn’t bully or act violently towards anyone. But they are loud, and sometimes really rude, and sometimes they start protests on school grounds over stupid little things, like wanting to add ”properly unhealthy desserts” into school meals. They can be talked into doing pretty much anything – and it’s actually a much bigger task to try to talk them out of something dangerous, pointless, or simply nonsensical.

Cecil rolls his eyes and supposedly decides to drop it. ”Her car was _right there_ , and honestly, I get pissed off every time I see her somewhere. Egging her car is nice compared to the other things I’ve thought about.”

Will supposes it’s neither here nor there, since he has though of some pretty awful things himself, so he merely sighs and puts his calculus homework away. ”Let’s not harass my mother, no matter how terribly she treated me, okay?” He really should work on his history paper next, but since it’s Thanksgiving weekend he thinks he could put it off for a few more days. ”I’d rather not talk about it, anyway.”

Lou Ellen nods her head in agreement. ”I personally can’t believe we’re talking about egging Will’s mom’s car when he _literally_ just told us he finally has his very first boyfriend.” Will blushes, feeling a pleased smile spreading on his lips. Oh, he’s ready to talk about Nico for _hours_ if needed. ”Like, an actual very real guy that wants to do unspeakable things to Will while telling his eyes are pretty.” Will isn’t so sure about those unspeakable things, but since they are unspeakable he’s fortunately not obligated to elaborate. ”Tell us more about him! Nico, was it?”

Even though Will has already told them the basics, how they met and what Nico is like et cetera, he now chooses to give them a quick overview on how they ended up together. He doesn’t tell anything he’s not sure Nico would want shared, but he does tell them that there was some misunderstandings regarding their feelings towards each other, which is close enough and not even entirely untrue. Lou makes a point of sighing dreamily in all the appropriate spots, and Cecil is good at prompting questions when Will forgets himself in a particularly good memory.

Will is taking Nico on a date today. On an actual first day, their first time going anywhere as boyfriends. (Going to school doesn’t count, because they would be doing it anyway. At least that was Will’s reasoning about the gushing to Nico earlier this week. Nico just rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his face that Will would like to describe as _fond_.) Will has been on a few dates before, but there’s something very different about going on a date with Nico than going out with the girls he dated back in Corsicana.

”Nico is _wonderful_ ”, Will says, even though he’s already said those exact words three times during this one Skype session. ”I mean, I suppose he’s not exactly _nice_ to people in general, but once you get to know him he’s very attentive and kind and funny, and I know we haven’t been together for more than two weeks now but I already know no one will ever compare to him, _ever_.”

Will continues on to wax poetry about Nico’s jokes and his eyes and his smile and his photography, and decidedly ignores Cecil and Lou Ellen’s steadily growing maniac grins. They asked for this, and truthfully, Will is far from ashamed by how gone he is for Nico. He’s not even worried about all the things everyone in their school has been saying about Nico, because clearly none of them have ever known him like Will does – the way Will is helping Nico find himself, too, while figuring their relationship out together. It’s all kinds of exciting and exhilarating, and Will almost wishes they could live in this honeymoon phase for much longer.

He knows they can’t, not if they want to have a proper relationship, that they have to accept that there will be less glorious periods of time. But Will is slowly coming to the conclusion that he will gladly go through those too to get the perfect ones with Nico.

”Now, about that date”, Lou Ellen asks when Will finally stops talking for long enough that she actually has a chance to. ”What are you going to wear?”

That’s actually a problem Will had wanted to avoid altogether. He doesn’t really care that much about clothing, and most of his shirts are flannel because it’s easy and comfortable. Lou and Cecil have already complained about this when he lived in Corsicana, threatening to nominate him to Queer Eye so that the whole world can make fun of his flannel collection. (Lou insists he would become an instant meme.)

Besides, Will has no idea how you should dress up on a date with a guy. He doesn’t think it’s any different from going on a date with a girl, but he wasn’t any kind of an expert on that, either, so he can’t take any chances. There are so many things that can go wrong because of his imperfect knowledge on dating a guy, so Will is willing to admit that he needs help.

For the next half an hour Will goes through most of his wardrobe. He doesn’t even think he has that many clothes, but suddenly when it’s all in a heap on top of his bed it looks like a lot. Some of the shirts Will hasn’t even used since the day he unpacked them after the move. Maybe he should consider watching a few episodes of Marie Kondo on Netflix, to see if he can find inspiration for an all-inclusive inventory of his belongings. And then he should binge Queer Eye again in a hope to finally convince himself to buy something new to wear.

”Where are you taking him?” Cecil asks while Will puts on his only pair of skinny jeans. (He doesn’t like wearing them, but Lou Ellen insists he looks good in them, so he hasn’t had the heart to throw them away yet.)

”Well, I was thinking a movie, and then maybe a walk. We don’t have school tomorrow, so we might even drive to the next town over for McDonald’s Drive Thru.” Will lets a small smile be visible on his lips when he looks down at the three different shirts laid out on the bed. ”Nico is kind of obsessed with Happy Meals.”

Even though Will barely ever went to McDonald’s when he lived in Corsicana, he has developed a liking to it. Maybe it has got something to do with the fact that he has gone there more times this fall than he can even count, by Nico’s insistence. Will doesn’t mind the drive, and Nico _loves_ Happy Meals, and Will likes seeing Nico enjoy himself, so really, it’s a text book win-win situation. Will doesn’t think their after school Happy Meal runs can be considered dates, though, so this one will be special.

”Happy Meals? From what you’ve been telling us about him, I thought he’d be more into dipping a double cheese burger into habanero sauce or something insane like that.”

Will doesn’t point out the fact that dipping the burgers in habanero sauce had actually been Cecil’s own idea, or that it was actually very delicious. He puts up a mental note to himself to make Nico taste it some time in the future.

”Well, people have a tendency to surprise you”, Will says, choosing the t-shirt with a print closest to the ones Nico usually wears. He hopes it’s not creepy that he’s taken notice on something like that. ”And Nico has so far surprised me more than most. Like, you should see how fast he can assemble a tent, without help even. I would never have guessed he can do that, from what I knew about him before that. And he’s so sweet when he’s talking about his grandmother. I mean, she did practically raise him since he was six, and he says he owes her a lot, but I bet most of the people in our school would be very surprised to know that the Bad Boy Nico di Angelo is a real softie on the inside.”

Cecil makes one of those obnoxious _aww_ -sounds that Will has always hated but has gotten a new understanding of since he started dating Nico. It doesn’t translate well through the video chat, but Will knows Cecil well enough to know exactly what he means by it.

”Okay but hey, while I admit that all that sounds sappy and romantic as all hell, let me be the one to say – _that’s it_? Seriously?”

Will turns his face away from the laptop so that Cecil and Lou Ellen can’t see his blush. ”And what did you want to hear, then?” he asks, even though he has a pretty good idea of what Lou means. It’s actually kind of startling to realize how much of people’s lives revolve around sex and relating subjects, now that Will has started trying to avoid it. No wonder Nico has been feeling super pressured and broken.

(Will decides there and then to give Nico an extra hug as soon as they see each other in a few hours. And possibly give him a compliment. Nico is so wonderful.)

”It’s their first date, Lou, give it a break”, Cecil says, and Will doesn’t have to look to know that Lou Ellen’s expression is wicked. ”Will doesn’t put out on the first date, or at least I don’t think he does. Unless, of course, the new city and new school have changed Will in more ways than he’s letting on.”

Will pulls the shirt over his head and ruffles his hair. It has grown a lot since the summer, perhaps he should cut it soon. ”It hasn’t, and the date will definitely be perfectly PG13, don’t you worry.”

”I wasn’t worrying, I was hopeful.”

Lou Ellen bursts into giggles, and Will decides he might have had quite enough of his friends for one afternoon. ”You’re an ass, Cecil”, he says, because what else is there to say, and picks up his laptop. ”I’m cutting you off. I suggest you work on your situational awareness before next time.”

Shutting off the call, Will knows he’s being a little unfair. But all this jesting, which he had no problem with before, make his skin itch now that he has talked about things with Nico in more depth. He supposes he will have to explain these things to Cecil and Lou Ellen eventually, too, but he also knows that before that he is going to have to understand them better himself, as well as get Nico’s permission to talk about something that is so very private.

But not today. Will squares his shoulders and looks at himself through the mirror. His hair is a mess, and the shirt is full of wrinkles, but luckily he has almost two whole hours before he has promised to pick Nico up. He is determined to make this the best date ever for both of them, and if that means that Will is going to have to iron out his tee, then so be it.

* * *

Will has gone all out for this date, and Nico feels a little inadequate.

”There’s no one else?” Nico asks for maybe the tenth time when they choose the best seats in the theater and make themselves comfortable. ”In the entire movie theater?”

Will grins. ”No one that I care about. I mean, I promised to do Hailey’s shift next week in exchange for her working the projector for us tonight, but other than that it’s just you and me.”

Nico has been on several different dates in his life, but he can’t remember anyone going out of their way to do something this grand for him. No one has ever made him feel as special as Will has on this first date. Nico can feel his whole face heating up as the lights dim in the theater and the music begins.

”What are we watching?” Even though there is no one else in the theater Nico still feels the urge to whisper. Will leans in closer to answer, just as quietly.

”I didn’t know what kind of movies you like”, he says just as the first bullets fly. ”But I remembered you once said you like playing first person shooting games, so I took a wild guess and chose an action film. I hope it’s okay.”

So far Nico hasn’t seen Will really express any interest in video games, so they really haven’t talked about them that much. So the fact that Will has somehow picked up on that from some random conversation and remembered it, then made conclusions from it and ended up with a movie that is not only Nico’s favorite genre but also one of the newer releases he has been meaning to check out but hasn’t had the time… it is all so sweet that it makes Nico feel a little light headed.

In his past relationships, Nico has usually been the one to wine and dine. He’s been the one who plans on the more elaborate dates. When Will had said he wants to take him out, Nico admits he had been expecting a diner and maybe a drive around, because that’s what dates are usually like around here.

Nico thinks that maybe he has to get used to the idea that there is nothing common or usual about Will Solace.

At least Will has allowed for Nico to pay for their snacks, and so they end up sharing popcorn and a bag of gummy worms, all of which is gone before the first proper battle scene. They also have a large soda with two straws, but Nico is embarrassed to admit that after twenty minutes or so he really can’t tell which straw is his. But does it really matter, when Nico plans to kiss Will anyway and thus get his germs sooner or later?

One of the reasons Nico doesn’t like going to the movie theater is that no matter what the movie is about, there is still going to be that annoying couple (usually sitting right in front of Nico, too, because he just has the worst luck in the world) that starts making out halfway through the movie and not even trying to be subtle about it. Nico thinks it’s very inconsiderate, inappropriate, and all around rude, but he can do nothing about that, so his solution is to avoid going to the movies in general.

This doesn’t mean, however, that Nico is going to refuse Will when he feels Will’s lips first on hi cheek, then his jaw and continuing on to his neck. There’s no one else in the theater, Will has made sure of that, and so Nico thinks it’s not nearly the same thing. In fact, it would almost be rude _not_ to take advantage of the situation that Will has worked so hard providing them.

It’s the first time that Nico has ever made out with someone who knows he doesn’t care to take things any further, and he’s not really sure how much is okay. Like, does Will expect him to back off from any deeper kisses now? Will it still be okay to use tongue? Nico knows these questions are stupid, since he’s the one with the reservations about physical intimacy, not Will. But he can’t help but wonder how much Will is expecting from him and if there’s a line he can cross where it all falls down again.

But Will is really very sweet, truly. Nico has known this already, but it still blows his mind. Will merely holds his hand as they kiss, deepens the kiss but doesn’t let his hands wander, and when Nico breaks away to catch his breath Will leaves those simple, soft kisses on his cheek and jaw that make Nico’s pulse pick up and his lips turn into an involuntary smile. It makes Nico remember that while this is all kind of new to Nico, it’s entirely new to Will, too. Nico is Will’s first boyfriend. That’s kind of a huge responsibility that would make Nico nervous if Will wasn’t so honest and open with him about, well, everything.

And if they’re going to be thinking about that, then in a way, Will is kind of Nico’s first real boyfriend, too. Because now that Nico thinks about it, he has never felt any of this with anyone else; not the uncontrollable giddiness of receiving a text late at night, not the simple thrill of holding hands, not even the urge to have Grandma meet Will’s dad over dinner. (That last one is still a long time away, but Nico just knows he wants that, too. He wants Grandma to get along with Will’s dad, and for her to accept Will in all the ways he needs to be accepted.) This relationship with Will is the first relationship in which Nico doesn’t feel pressured for every little thing all the time, and he feels free.

After the movie ends, Nico realizes he has no idea what happened during most of it. All he can remember is how nice it feels to be with Will, to be kissed by Will, to hold hands with Will. It’s all very sappy in a way that the movie probably was not, but Nico doesn’t care. He’ll just have to watch the movie again some other time.

* * *

It’s raining when they leave the theater after the movie, so Will’s plans to take Nico for a walk are crushed spectacularly. The awkward part is that his car is parked a few blocks away on the supermarket’s parking lot, so they will still have to make a run for it while trying to not get too drenched.

”I was already hoping for snow this week, but I guess we’ll have to wait another couple of weeks for that”, Will says, making Nico let out a huff of breath that could be interpreted as a laugh. ”We didn’t get snow in Corsicana. I can’t wait to be that annoying soccer mom on Facebook and share a dozen pictures of snow piles.”

This time Nico’s burst of laughter is real, and it makes Will reach out for his hand. Neither of them are wearing any gloves, and by the time they reach Will’s car their fingers are probably going to be freezing off.

”I guess we need to make a run for it.” Will turns to look at Nico, who has a challenge gleaming in his eyes. ”On three?”

He doesn’t get to more than one before Will is sprinting away, dragging a laughing Nico along.

They come to a stop under a tree that marks more or less the halfway point from the theater to the parking lot, and Will feels breathless from both running and laughing. He leans to the bark of the tree and pulls Nico with him, and the leaveless branches of the tree can only do so much to stop the rain from soaking them to the bone.

Nico’s eyes twinkle as they blink rapidly to get rid of all the rain drops. ”You do realize that standing under a tree can really not be considered _being under cover_ , right?”

”Maybe”, Will smiles, suddenly feeling a little shy as he leans in closer to Nico. ”But I didn’t want to have to share you with other people, so we had to make due.”

Will has wanted to kiss someone in rain ever since he saw the first Spider-Man movie where Peter Parker and Mary Jane share the most romantic kiss that Will has ever seen on film. He has been determined to have his own rain kiss, and to make it even better than the Spider-Man one, and as his lips reach Nico’s now he’s pretty sure he has achieved that goal.

Even though Nico must have seen the kiss coming, there’s still a sharp intake of breath, like he’s surprised. Will thinks it’s super adorable. The kiss itself is very sweet, nothing like their kisses in the theater, and Will doesn’t think he would really be even comfortable enough for an entire make out session out there in the open where basically anyone could walk by – well, if it weren’t for the rain. But the rain is one of the things keeping them cool, too, because as romantic as it is, Will doesn’t want the night to end just yet, and his jacket is not exactly water resistant. He bets Nico’s denim jacket isn’t either.

”Come on”, Will says as they part from the kiss, slipping from between Nico’s body and the trunk of the tree and tugging Nico to come with him by the hand. ”This time we’ll _really_ run on a count of three.”

But of course Will only gets to two before Nico is already running, dragging Will with him. It must be payback, but Will can’t be mad. He isn’t even sure if he was screaming or laughing, but by the time they reach the car he’s breathless either way.

True to his word, Will does take Nico on a drive to get McDonald’s. They get milkshakes and sweet potato fries and park the car behind the building to enjoy them without it being a distraction while driving back – and also to buy themselves a little more time before Will needs to drop Nico off. They don’t really have a curfew since it’s not a school night, but Will knows the date must end at some point, no matter how much he wants it to last forever. They talk about the movie, about their Thanksgiving plans and Christmas memories and New Year’s, and Will steals kisses between sentences just as frequently as Nico does.

All in all, Will is actually pleasantly surprised by how easy it all is. Low key and familiar, almost like this is their umpteenth date instead of their first. Of course there’s that certain novelty to all of it, but at the same time Will can already feel secure in his relationship with Nico, as crazy as it sounds.

On their way back they don’t talk much, but it’s not an awkward kind of silence. They hold hands over the console, and Will feels butterflies in his stomach when he feels Nico’s thumb move in a soothing little pattern against his skin. It’s so very sweet, and Nico is all kinds of great, and Will seriously considers pulling over in the middle of nowhere just so they can make out a little bit more before going home.

(He doesn’t pull over. Because that would be a little bit creepy. And also because his dad is probably going to wait up for him and Will really doesn’t want to explain to him why he’s coming home after midnight instead after ten like was planned.)

Will walks Nico to his front door when he drops him off. The rain hasn’t stopped, so they hurry up to the porch, and Will can’t help but marvel at how different everything is from a few weeks ago. So much has happened since then, all this dating business along with – Will likes to think – a deeper friendship with Nico, too. There have been so many moments when they were supposed to do school assignments but instead they end up either binge watching Bojack Horseman or doing research on asexuality and relating sexualities on the internet.

(Will’s account is currently temporarily blocked from two different forums for mercilessly trolling acephobes. He is not one bit sorry about this.)

”Thank you for tonight”, Nico says. There’s no awkward shuffling in front of the door, even though only hours before the date Will was so sure there would be. There’s nothing awkward about the way Nico steps closer and wraps his arms around Will’s waist, either. ”Best date of my life, no competition.”

Will is sure his face glows with the praise as he leans in closer and brings Nico’s face closer by his neck. ”I’m glad.”

Nico’s lips taste like strawberry milkshake, and Will smiles. When he first met Nico he would never have guessed that Nico likes sweets as much as he does, but now it’s just another fact about Nico that Will keeps well archived in his mind for later use. There are so many small interesting facts about Nico that if Will were to write them all down he would need enough note books to fill an entire drawer.

”You know I’m going to have to outdo you on our second date, right?” Nico mumbles, only leaning back enough to move his lips before diving back in.

”Better bring your A game, di Angelo.” Will can feel the vibrations on Nico’s body when he laughs. It does funny things to his hear, and he kisses Nico again. ”I only expect the best from you.”

”Is it cliché of me to say that you only deserve the best?”

Will is so, so weak, and it’s all Nico’s fault. ”I’ll allow it.”

With one last kiss, Will steps back but lets his fingers linger on Nico’s jaw. ”Good night”, he whispers, his voice barely even noticeable through the sound of rain hitting the roof of the porch. Nico seems like he can hear him well enough, though.

”Good night, Will”, Nico replies, giving Will’s other hand a squeeze before letting it go. ”I’ll see you on Friday?”

Will skips the steps down and doesn’t even care that his jacket is already soaked. He grins. ”Not if I see you first.”

* * *

Nico is still floating on cloud nine when he closes the front door behind him and kicks off his shoes. Kissing Will is still so brand new, but after today he can honestly say that he could spend his entire life kissing Will and he would die happy. And being with Will is so different from all of his previous relationships in a very fundamental way – Nico feels like he can breathe more easily, and he can say what he thinks without the fear of being bullied or ridiculed or dumped. It’s all so perfect, almost too perfect, and Nico wouldn’t have wanted for the evening to end at all.

But alas, it had to at some point, and Nico feels stupid to even think about it but he already kind of misses holding Will’s hand. He can’t believe he won’t see Will until Friday.

”How was the date?” Grandma calls from the kitchen as Nico hangs up his coat. She sounds excited; maybe some of Nico’s own excitement rubbed off on her earlier. She’s met Will a couple of times, once before the whole camping trip fiasco and three more times since everything was sorted out, and she absolutely adores him. But that’s just like Will, making everyone love him with just a smile and a _hello_.

”It was good”, Nico says. He stops at the open doorway separating the kitchen and the dining room from the hallway. ”Great, actually.” He might not want to share details with Grandma, but it’s not like he can lie when he can’t even keep the stupid grin off his face.

Grandma smiles at him but doesn’t push for more. ”Are you hungry?”

”No, not really, we had some snacks at the movies, and then we bought fries afterwards.” Nico leans against the door frame and tries to clear his head from Will for a while. He looks around at all the half finished dishes on every available surface. ”So, about Thanksgiving. Dad’s not coming, right? Or Bianca?”

Grandma looks apologetic, which tells Nico about everything he needs to know before she even says anything. ”You know how the military is. But Bianca says she might get a week off around Christmas.”

It’s just as well, Nico hadn’t really let himself get his hopes up anyway. He doesn’t remember the last time his father was home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so it’s not like he knows what he’s really missing. Hazel is coming either way, and the three of them can have a perfectly fine and enjoyable time. They always do.

Before Nico can even change the subject, there is the distinct sound of steps coming down the stairs. Nico is just about to ask Grandma if they have someone over when Thalia jumps the last three steps in one go and drops her bag at her feet.

”Surprise! Happy Thanksgiving!”

Thalia is Jason’s sister, and Nico’s oldest cousin. She’s also the one that has caused the most headache and sleepless nights to both of her parents, all her aunts and uncles, and her grandmother. She ran away from home when she was sixteen, and for the past few years she has mostly stayed in one country for three months, worked just enough to get by and to get money for the next plane ticket. Most of the time Nico has no idea where she is, but then she’ll just drop by unannounced – just like now.

”Come on, can you look just a little bit more excited for me?” Thalia rolls her eyes while still grinning. She bounces closer to Nico and throws her arms around him into a warm but slightly forced hug. ”You’re acting like you’ve just seen a ghost. I don’t look that terrible, do I?”

It’s not that Thalia looks terrible – she really doesn’t – but that Nico is still quite shocked to see her. And her hair is decidedly shorter and more blue since the last time he saw her. She refuses to use Snapchat or Instagram or any other popular social media, so Nico literally hasn’t seen her face since probably last Easter.

”When did you come in?” Nico asks while his face is still muffled against Thalia’s shoulder. Thankfully after that he is released and the hug doesn’t last too long – neither of them are big huggers, and Nico has used all his physical contact for the day with Will anyway.

”Just now. I used your bedroom window. Nice Superman sheets.”

The back of Nico’s neck feels hot, and he purposefully looks anywhere else that at Thalia. ”Most people use the front door, you know. And a door bell.”

”Yeah, well, I’m not most people. Hi, Grandma!”

Grandma smiles at them from the kitchen, shaking her head a little before turning back to her cooking. ”It’s good to see you, Thalia. Nico, dear, is Will coming over for dinner tomorrow, or does he have plans with his father?”

Before Nico can so much as think about answering, Thalia turns to look at him, her eyes gleaming like a maniac’s. ”Who’s _Will_?”

Nico feels himself blushing even though he tries to fight against it and glare at Thalia for snooping. ”Why do you say his name like _that_?”

”Who _is_ he?”

”Why do you want to know?”

” _Nico_!”

Nico crosses his arms and gives Thalia a rather ugly look. ”I’m not sure I need to tell you about Will, since you never tell me anything _at all_.”

Thalia rolls her eyes. ”Come on, Nico don’t be like that. I send you post cards – ”

”Once every two months, yes, I know. Thank you for the weather reports from East Asia, I couldn’t have googled those myself.” Nico doesn’t really mean to be nasty, but this thing with Will is something new and delicate, and he feels very protective over it, so instead he’s throwing all his frustrations about Thalia to her face. ”Don’t you think that every once in a while you could write down something a little more personal than just _the weather is nice_? I mean, we’re family. We like to hear how you’re doing.”

At least Thalia has the decency to look apologetic. She looks at something around Nico’s left shoulder and doesn’t meet his eyes, shuffling from foot to foot in the middle of the dining room.

”He does have a point, you know”, Grandma says from behind Nico, and wow, that’s a low bow. Grandma rarely scolds them. Thalia looks like an ashamed dog now, and Nico almost feels bad for her. ”It wouldn’t kill you to pick up the phone every now and then. I have FaceTime now, you know. Hazel has been bringing me to the 21st century.”

Nico wouldn’t call that such a big of an accomplishment, but he lets Grandma have it. She did take a lot of time to learn it, and Nico can see why FaceTime would be difficult to handle for some older people. Plus, her words bring a hint of a smile to Thalia’s mostly ashamed face, so there is that.

Grandma turns back to the food, apparently done with her talk, and there is a pressuring silence between Nico and Thalia as they stare each other down. Nico has already forgiven her, but she doesn’t have to know that, not quite yet. Nico has suffered through enough of her hazing for most of his life, so when he for once has the upper hand on her he is going to have a little more fun with it.

”It’s just that I don’t really know what to say”, Thalia finally sighs. ”You know I’m not good with words, I never have been.”

Nico decides to let her off the hook, just this once. And only if she makes pumpkin pie tomorrow, but Nico can wait until he makes any demands. ”Just make the call, okay”, he says and resists the urge to roll his eyes at his own stupid advice. ”Grandma knows how to force the conversation out of you. And I don’t need much, just a few words saying how you _feel_ about the rainstorms would be cool.”

Nico doesn’t do emotional stuff well (which, he has realized, is a big part of why he and Will had to do things the hard way, and he really needs to find a way to apologize to Will for that), so he doesn’t look at Thalia when he senses she might look grateful. A fierce Thalia he can handle, and an angry one, and a hysterically joyful one. But a vulnerable Thalia? Nico doesn’t know how that even works.

He clears his throat and turns his back to her. ”Let’s get you something to eat. And tomorrow you’re coming with me to pick up Hazel from the bus station at ten, so no sleeping in.”

Thalia glares at him when she follows him into the dining room, Nico can feel it in the back of his head. ”Nico di Angelo, you are a cruel man.”

”I know, people love me for it.”

”Ooh, does _Will_ love you for it, too?”

Nico wants to plan a slow, painful death for Thalia Grace.

* * *

Thanksgiving in Will’s house has always been somewhat formal. His mom would dress up in on of her better dresses, and Will would be expected to wear a pressed shirt, and his dad would wear a bow tie he got for Christmas last year and somehow they would manage to find something to talk about that. Will doesn’t have any living grandparents, so it would be only the three of them, but it would be nice and familiar, if a little bit dull. Will is much more of a Christmas person.

(Black Friday is a whole other story. That’s usually when Cecil and Lou Ellen come over for leftovers, and they end up spending the entire day eating and making stupid bets and making up the most ridiculous stories from the history of the US ”in the spirit of the holiday”. Will loves Black Friday, because even though those plans are not happening this year, he’s going to be hanging out with Nico, and that’s just as good.)

Thanksgiving this year is very different. For one, Will’s mom is not there. Second, his dad informed him that there would be no need to dress up if he didn’t want to. (Will still made sure his favorite navy blue shirt is clean and wrinkle free, although he’s very happy to wear jeans.) On top of all that, Xenia’s family is joining them this year, and Elliot insisted on taking care of most of the food, leaving only the pumpkin pie to Will.

It’s so different from any Thanksgiving Will has known, but he’s super excited about it. Especially the food. Because Elliot is a genius when it comes to cooking.

Will has helped his dad clean the whole house, and the smell that lingers in the air is a strange mix of a citrus multi-purpose cleaner and wall paint, even though it’s almost an entire week since they repainted the walls in Will’s room. It’s a lot less minty, now, and a lot more gray, and so is the t-shirt Nico was wearing while helping out. Will has a picture of the two of them set as his phone’s lock screen, Nico grinning at the camera with a big splatter of gray paint on his cheek while Will kisses his other one. It had been such a nice day, with Nico staying over for dinner afterwards and Mr. Solace being a normal dad for once and doing his best trying to not make Nico feel uncomfortable.

Ideally, Will would want to spend Thanksgiving with Nico, too, but that could just be the honeymoon phase speaking. It wouldn’t be very appropriate, he feels, to invite Nico and his grandmother over for dinner, especially when he knows Hazel is going to be there too. Will wants to meet Hazel, but he also wants it to be under less stressful circumstances, not during a dinner in which Will’s family and Nico’s are meeting each other for the first time.

Besides, if all goes well, there’s always going to be next year. Will can hardly believe himself for even dreaming about it, but he can see him and Nico making it through the entire year – and then beyond that, too. Again, it might be the giddiness of the new relationship making him so optimistic about everything, but there’s just something about how things are with Nico and how he feels when he’s with him that makes Will think it’s something very special.

Nico has been texting Will all day, about how his cousin Thalia showed up unannounced (which she apparently always does, so that’s not really the issue) and how she’s teaming up with Hazel to grill every single detail out of Nico. Will even made matters worse by sending him six rows of heart emojis, all in different colors, complete with a gif of a robot with heart eyes. Nico merely answered with a ”I trusted you, Solace”, and then it has been radio silence, which Will takes to mean that Nico’s phone has been confiscated, as Will knows his will be any minute now, too. That is one tradition Mr. Solace has wanted to bring with them from Corsicana: no phones during Thanksgiving dinner. Will thinks he can live with that.

They are all gathered in the dining room, about to sit down to give their thanks, when Will’s phone rings. He grimaces as he takes it out of his pocket, already apologizing to everyone.

”You can answer that, but after that this is a phone free zone”, his dad says, trying for a stern tone but failing, way too happy about the fact that he has both his children as well as his grandchildren under the same roof for Thanksgiving for the first time. ”This might be a fun and relaxed Thanksgiving, but not quite that relaxed!”

Will nods and excuses himself from the dining room and into the kitchen before he looks at his phone screen. He doesn’t recognize the number, but he figures that since it’s Thanksgiving it must either be really important or then it’s a false number. He answers the call.

”Hello?”

”Hi, Will.” Will freezes when he hears the voice, his mind going to a full stop when he realizes who’s on the other end of the line. ”It’s Mom. Happy Thanksgiving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes yes I know sorry for the cliff hanger not really tho.


	6. the one with winter formal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ”Well, we usually play a lot of board games with Dad. And eat more chocolate than is healthy.” Will’s eyes gleam under the fairy lights when he smiles. ”And I also want to spend time with my boyfriend, and I want to go sledding with him, and then I want to curl up on a couch with him to drink hot chocolate and watch _It’s a Wonderful Life_.”
> 
> ”I’m going to cry if we watch that.” Nico isn’t even ashamed to admit it, because – 
> 
> ”Everyone cries during _It’s a Wonderful Life_ , darling. And on Boxing Day you’ll come over and we’re going to make a pizza using all the Christmas leftovers as fillings, and we’re going to both hate and love it.”
> 
> Nico grins. It sounds terrible, and he can’t wait. The song changes back into something more upbeat, and Nico holds out his hand. ”Dance with me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am aware that this chapter is coming a few days late, but as you can imagine, New Year's has been a bit busy. But the final chapter is here, as is 2020, so let's celebrate that, yeah?

Nico thinks that this should not have in any way come as a surprise to him, but it turns out that Will is super romantic.

Like, Nico doesn’t think of himself as particularly _un_ romantic. He sends cute texts for no reason, and tells Will when he thinks he looks extra nice. He has been known to bring flowers to his previous boyfriends on their birthdays, and he already has a very good idea what he’d like to get Will for his next birthday, and that particular gift is one hundred percent romantic.

But Will is on a whole new level that Nico can only hope to reach one day. They have only been dating for a little over a month, but already Nico has gotten used to Will sending him a purple little heart every morning and every night on WhatsApp, and holding his hand in the car over the console. Will has taken him on a drive with no destination just so they could listen to old rock classics on a cassette tape. One time Will came to pick Nico up in the morning and gave him a pretty key ring with a black rose dangling from it, and when Nico asked why the only explanation he got was that ”it reminded me of you”.

Will is probably the most romantic person Nico has ever met. Maybe that’s why he’s not very surprised to find himself in Will’s room with all the ceiling lights off. The only light in the room comes from either the two candles Will has lit up, or Will’s laptop that’s playing some kind of fire place simulator from YouTube.

(There’s an actual fire place in Will’s living room, but Will’s dad is home. Nico almost likes this better anyway, since now they don’t have to stop kissing to worry about fire safety.)

Since speaking out his insecurities with Will, Nico has found a whole new way to enjoy making out. Before, there has always been that edge to it, where Nico has known that his partner is expecting something more, sooner or later. That has always made Nico a little too aware to fully let himself go and enjoy himself, and he’s only now realizing how much he has been missing.

There’s no such expectations when he’s with Will. Will knows that Nico doesn’t want to go any further, and Nico knows Will respects that, has said that Nico has the reigns when it comes to physical intimacy in their relationship. And Nico is so thankful. He hadn’t even known how much his anxiety and fears had been holding him back, and now it’s like he’s opened his eyes for the first time. He shivers pleasantly from the lightest touch of Will’s fingertips on his arm, and his heart bursts with every kiss, every whisper, every caress. It’s all very romantic, and Nico doesn’t feel like he’s ever going to get enough.

Nico has learned many things about what he likes since he started dating Will Solace. He likes kissing, even when it turns heated and someone might think it’s going somewhere else entirely. He likes it when Will lies on top of him, the weight of him grounding and comfortable and warm. Nico likes to let his hands wander, feeling the muscles on Will’s shoulders and back, through the shirt or under it, and so far Nico has gotten the impression that Will seems to like this, too. He isn’t sure how much skin contact would be too much for him, or if there even is a limit, but there will come a time later when he can explore those thoughts further.

Nico has also learned to be even more in tune with Will’s moods, and he can tell that right now – even though Will’s lips feel incredible on his jaw and his arms around him are making funny things happen to Nico’s heart – Will’s mind is somewhere else entirely.

He really doesn’t want to, but Nico puts a hand on Will’s shoulder to gently nudge him in an attempt to signal that they should cool down. Will merely sighs and rests his cheek on Nico’s collar, letting his whole body relax half on top of Nico. It’s such a show of trust and intimacy that it makes Nico smile, even though he’s still worried about Will.

”Hey, where’s your mind?” Nico mumbles and starts petting Will’s hair – not just because it’s soft, but also because Nico thinks it’s comforting when Will plays with his. ”Because it’s not really where I need it to be right now?”

Will _really_ likes it when Nico plays with his hair. He usually leans into the touch, curling into Nico like a cat being pet, until Nico can almost hear him purring. That’s why it is so concerning now when Nico lets his fingers rake through Will’s curls and he is only met by silence. Nico frowns. This is the first time he’s seen Will like this, and he’s not particularly good at comforting people. (Perhaps it’s a high time he learn.)

Nico shifts a little and presses a subtle kiss to Will’s hair line, because he wants to and also because that’s something he has seen people do in movies. ”Is there something bothering you?”

While waiting for Will to answer, Nico realizes he is not at all prepared for a conversation like this. He doesn’t know how to help people. He knows how to max out his heath bar in seconds in several different video games, and he knows to carry around an extra memory chip for his camera, but people? Nico has no idea how to help people. He’s aware that it’s not something anyone knows how to do automatically, that everyone has to learn it (usually the hard way), but Nico was not prepared to learn today.

”My mom called me yesterday during dinner.”

Will doesn’t talk about his mom. Nico knows that he lives with his dad, only with his dad, and that he has a sister that lives in town with her own family. Nico also knows that Will used to live with his mom last year, has read between the lines that there was some kind of conflict that forced Will and his dad to move out. Nico just has assumed that the conflict was between Will’s parents.

However, the way Will is acting makes Nico think that there must be something more in the story that just a regular divorce. He doesn’t want to pry, he doesn’t want to make Will feel like he has to tell him everything, but he can’t help but be curious about the whole thing.

”I take it you weren’t really happy about that?” is what Nico ends up with, and he wants to hit himself. Isn’t the way Will is acting enough to prove that he wasn’t? ”You don’t really talk about your mom. Like, at all. I’m not saying this in a way to _make_ you talk about her, but like, I’m here, you know? If you want to talk.”

Will’s lips press into the skin on Nico’s neck, lingering there enough to make Nico feel tingly warm. It feels a lot like a thank you, that little kiss, and he supposes it means he’s doing at least something right.

Nico still has to wait for a long while before Will speaks, but that’s okay. During that time he keeps brushing his hand trough Will’s hair and listening to the cracking of the fire on Will’s laptop. If he doesn’t see the screen he can almost imagine there’s an actual fire place in the room. Will’s breathing is even, Nico can feel his chest moving in time with his own, and despite the depressing mood everything is peaceful and calm.

”I came out to Mom and Dad last summer, a few days after graduation”, Will explains, his voice small. Nico can feel his breath against his collar bones, and unlike in his previous relationships, it doesn’t feel pressuring, but rather comforting and reassuring. ”I had it all scripted, you know. I sat them down in the living room, and I started by explaining how I hadn’t really been feeling like I know how to express myself fully to them. I had a whole speech about progress in society, and equality, and then I went on to my research and – and in the end Dad just kind of, you know, guessed.”

Nico hasn’t really spent much time with Mr. Solace yet, but he can still see it, clear as day. It almost makes him smile, thinking about the situation.

”So you can guess by now that Dad was cool about it all, and he started asking if there was something he could help me understand, or if I needed to talk to someone, he could find me a therapist if I so wished. And then – ” Will’s voice catches in his throat, and Nico tightens his hold on him on instinct. ”Then Mom said a therapist would be a good idea. So that I could get this nonsense out of my head.”

Once the words hit Nico he can feel himself tense up, and a chill travel down his spine. ” _What_.”

”She said she was willing to pay anything to get me well again. That she had been fearing something like this might happen, and that she already had a few names in mind. Dad asked if she was being serious, and then she…” Will’s voice hasn’t been that loud to begin with, but now it trickles down to basically nothing. Nico is both concerned and furious, with a side dish of extremely relieved that the fact that Will is by his side now means that irreversible actually happened. ”She said she was being deadly serious. And that she wanted me to go to this camp for the summer, where they apparently fixed people like me. Like us.

”Dad was outraged. He said that I wouldn’t have to sit there listening to that crap, and then he went on to point out to Mom every single thing that she just said that was not okay. I’ve never seen him like that. I don’t really remember much of the conversation after that, just that there was a lot of shouting and crying, and that I couldn’t move. It felt like I was tied to my chair with this heaviness on my shoulders and chest weighing me down, and I couldn’t breathe.

”That’s why we moved.” Will leans back to lock his eyes with Nico’s, and there are tears on his face. Nico has never seen anything so devastating yet so beautiful in his life. ”Dad said he couldn’t stand living with someone who would do that to another person, and that I shouldn’t have to. He said he’s leaving, and that I can either choose to come with him or stay with Mom. And Mom said if I walked through that door I wouldn’t be allowed back in.”

Nico can guess the rest. Will’s reluctance to talk about his mother makes total sense now, as does the fact that Will doesn’t really seem to be interested to go back to Corsicana anytime soon. And Nico’s heart breaks for Will, because no one deserves to be treated that way, much less by their own mother. He knows there’s not much he can do now, but if there was anything that would make Will’s pain go away, Nico knows he would do it in a heart beat.

But as it is, all Nico can do is be there, and try to make Will feel at least a little bit lighter. That much he knows. He reaches a hand to wipe away some of Will’s tears with his thumb. There’s still more coming, in a unpredictable stream that leaves gleaming lines on Will’s cheek, reflecting the light from the candles and the laptop screen. It makes Will’s skin look like it’s sparkling.

”You know, this is almost off topic and stuff, but your dad is, like, a super cool dad.”

It makes Will smile and duck his head, so Nico thinks he succeeded. At what, he’s not so sure. ”He kind of is”, Will says, leaning his head back on Nico’s shoulder and sighing. ”He’s a really good dad. I don’t give him enough credit most of the time.”

Nico wonders briefly if anyone ever really gives their parents the credit they are due. Most of the time it seems like it’s always either too much or too little, and it’s never right. But they do balance each other out, kind of.

”So what did your mom want this time?”

”I’m not sure. I didn’t really give her a chance to talk.” Will’s sigh this time is heavy and full of something that Nico is surprised to realize is most likely regret. ”I’m guessing she may have just wanted to catch up, but hearing her voice out of the blue like that didn’t feel good. I was a little harsh. I should have given her a chance.”

Something protective rises it’s head inside Nico’s chest before he can tame it down, and he tightens his hold of Will even further. Not by much, but enough that Will must notice it before Nico loosens his arms again, because Will leans back and places his head on the pillow next to Nico’s and looks at him in the eyes. There’s confusion there, along with the sadness and regret and anger and all the other dozens of things that Will is currently feeling, and Nico feels almost helpless in front of it all.

”I know it’s not my place, but I don’t think you should give your mother a chance if just hearing her voice makes you uncomfortable. I mean, she really hurt you, big time. What she did is one of the worst things a parent can do to their child.” Will looks somewhat doubtful, or at least that’s how Nico reads it in the situation, so he soldiers on, keeping his voice soft and reassuring. ”You always say I should never do something that makes me uncomfortable, be it with you or with anyone else. The same goes to you. We’re faced with so many uncomfortable things in our life, there’s no need to go seeking for them ourselves.”

Will’s eyes are extremely beautiful. Nico feels like he’s always thought that, even before he even had any kinds of feelings on Will to begin with. His eyes are so blue and bright, and when Will looks at Nico he feels like the only person in the room. The gaze is piercing, and sometimes Nico wonders if it should hurt when it reaches so deeply inside his soul, but it doesn’t. It is burning, yes, but only in a good way, and at the same time it soothes down all pains and insecurities and fears Nico may have about their relationship.

It’s a cliché, that eyes are the window into a person’s soul. But all clichés are clichés for a reason, and that reason is that they’re true and they work, and Nico has never known it like this before he let himself really look into Will’s eyes.

”I really like you, you know.” Will’s voice is a whisper, and his breath leaves a soft caress lingering on Nico’s cheeks. ”It scares me sometimes.”

It scares Nico, too. It really does. Sometimes Nico thinks about how close they already are, after such a little time dating, how at ease he is with Will and how comfortable it is to lie in bed together like this, legs tangled together and noses inches apart. That scares him, but it also gives him a crazy rush of adrenaline, and brings a dopey smile on his face that Hazel and Jake have both pointed out to him several times already.

”Me too.” Will’s eyes smile when he looks at Nico. Nico wonders if his eyes smile at Will, too. ”But I also think it’s kind of awesome.”

In another place, at another time, Nico thinks Will might have snorted at that. He would make that cute noise that Nico only has had the pleasure of hearing a couple of times before, and then he would blush crimson red and Nico would just stare because Will is so pretty. But that doesn’t happen now. They’re soo serious, too deep and perhaps even too relaxed and languid for such silliness. Will merely closes his eyes and nuzzles close to Nico until their foreheads press together and noses slot side by side.

”It is, isn’t it.”

The kiss Nico receives from Will is soft and warm, and it makes Nico’s heart flutter in a way that makes him feel things he hasn’t yet been aware of yet. He’s scared, but he thinks it might be good scared, and the best thing is that Will is probably just as scared as he is.

* * *

Winter Formal is not a dance that everyone at their school talks about all year, but the way things are in early December, it might as well be. Suddenly all everyone is talking about are dresses and themes and playlists and pre parties and asking for dates, and it’s so high school Nico would find it ridiculous if at the same time it wasn’t kind of intimidating.

Nico hasn’t given Winter Formal much of a thought since seeing it in the school paper’s social calendar the beginning of the school year. He’s known on some level that he is going, he has had the tickets in his wallet since the committee started selling them (school paper got two tickets and to ”plus ones” each year, and since it’s Nico’s turn to report he automatically got his tickets). He’s had the spread outlined since the beginning of October, all he has to do is fill in the text and insert pictures.

But since then Nico has started dating Will, and that makes all the difference. Because Nico doesn’t think he would be going to the dance if he didn’t have to, he has a feeling that Will would _definitely_ want to go. And that leads Nico into believing that Will is actually _expecting_ them to go there together, and that’s a whole other kind of social pressure Nico doesn’t think he was prepared for. But now he is aware of it, and he feels like he needs to act on it.

And when Nico thinks more about it, he realizes that if he is going to the dance anyway, he will definitely like it much more with Will by his side. If he were going alone, he would probably just stick to his camera the entire night, the way he has done with every single social gathering since he got his first DSLR. With Will he has an actual chance to enjoy the night the way the rest of his class mates probably will, and why not give it a chance?

It’s the asking that proves to be the difficult part. Winter Formal is no prom, but the culture of grand gestures when asking people to go as your date has spread to other dances, too, and now there is confetti and marching bands and ridiculous banners around the school every other day. Nico thinks it’s stupid, because with prom it was still something special, and now it’s like just another thing that is expected of you if you choose to go. Nico wants to do something ordinary, maybe romantic but still something that is him. He hasn’t been dating Will for that long, he doesn’t want to risk doing anything too grand too soon. (He doubts that would be an issue for Will, but Nico likes to play it safe.)

In the end, Nico decides the best way to go about it is to just ask. He does it that same day, actually, when Will is dropping him off after school and they sit in the parked car in front of Nico’s house. Will leans over the gear stick to kiss him, just like he does every day now, and Nico lingers, bringing his cold fingers to caress the soft skin of Will’s cheek. He likes this, likes that this is his new normal, and when the kiss ends he doesn’t let Will lean back, wanting to keep him close.

”Will you go to the Winter Formal with me?” Nico asks, his voice so soft that it wouldn’t be audible if the engine were still running. He looks at Will’s eyes, and sees the joy and the mischief dancing in them side by side.

”Where’s my grand gesture?” Will asks, like Nico was almost certain he would, and Nico has to snort. Will is the person that wakes Nico up at nine on a Saturday morning with a text that says ”I just ate a Good Cupcake”. And he’s expecting a grand gesture as a school dance invitation from Nico, who usually answers those texts with ”how can you be so sure it was a Good Cupcake and not an Evil Cupcake” or something equally stupid. Will is a huge dork, they both are, and before last month Nico thought he didn’t even have a romantic bone in his body.

”If I’m going to make one, you’re going to have to wait until prom.” Nico makes it sound like a promise, and maybe it is. Prom is still months away, he will have enough time to plan something until then. He gives Will another kiss. ”Now, Winter Formal? Do you want to go or did I buy the tickets for nothing?”

It’s not for nothing, and they both know it, and Nico knows that Will knows he didn’t pay a penny for the tickets. Nico is going to have to go anyway, because it’s his turn to write a story about a school dance since he skipped the last two. (To be fair, he didn’t think he would be dating anyone this time. And he did try to bribe Malcolm into switching, but apparently he has a date, too.)

Will might joke around about a lot of things, but when Nico looks at him now he knows that’s all it was about the grand gesture, a joke. That Will is like Nico, he doesn’t care about the grand gestures as long as they do get to go together, as long as they do things that are representative of the two of them, not anyone else.

”I want to go with you”, Will says. ”I’ll even carry your camera bag for you.”

Something light lilts inside Nico’s chest at the tone of Will’s voice. ”What a gentleman.”

Nico has never bee in love. At least he doesn’t think he has. He has read different descriptions on how it’s supposed to feel like, and he’s pretty sure he’s never felt like that, not quite. But he’s also positive that, given a little time, he could very easily fall in love with Will Solace. He can see it already, how it would be as easy and natural as falling asleep, and Nico kind of can’t wait, while at the same time he’s a little scared about it because teenage romances often don’t last. Nico doesn’t think he can handle one more heart break, especially not with Will. This feels different.

They kiss one more time before Nico has to go, and when Nico is opening the front door and looks over his shoulder he can see that Will is still looking at him from the driver’s seat. He does a stupid little wave with his fingers, and Will does the same before finally starting the car again and driving away.

* * *

Will has looked up how to tie a knot online, but he doesn’t get it. The YouTube video he found is simple enough – or so he thought before he stepped in front of the mirror and started working on the tie himself. The guy on the tutorial keeps giving the instructions on loop, and Will keeps cursing at him at the same spots, over and over again. He didn’t want to ask his dad for help with this, but it’s starting to look like he doesn’t really have a choice.

There’s a knock on the open door of Will’s room, and he turns his gaze through the mirror to see his dad standing there, like summoned. There’s something strange going on with his face that Will can’t quite figure out, but he could be wrong. It could be just his own nerves playing tricks on him. Wouldn’t be the first time.

”Can I help you with that?” Mr. Solace asks, and Will, thankful that he doesn’t have to ask himself, gives him the tie with a sigh. He will learn how to do this some other time, when his hands are not sweating and trembling from excitement.

As expected, Mr. Solace has many years of practice when it comes to neck ties, and the knot is done and pristine in no time. Will loops it around his neck and fastens it, liking how the color matches his eyes. The tie and collared shirt are the only pieces of formal clothing that he’s going to wear tonight, Nico insisting on wearing jeans for comfort and sneakers to make a statement, and Will not caring either way but wanting to match with Nico. It’s a nice compromise.

”So, you’re going straight to Nico’s from the dance?”

”Yeah. We’re probably stopping at the store on the way for some snacks to go with the movie, but that’s pretty much all. Nico’s grandmother is leaving us some leftovers to heat up when we get there.” Will knows Nico well enough that there’s a chance he’ll want to edit some photos tonight, if he gets really good ones from the dance, but Will is very okay with that, too. He has packed a book with him, just in case.

That’s one thing Will likes so much about being with Nico, that they don’t have to _do_ anything together to _be_ together. They can just share space and be perfectly content, and just that little detail is so very different from all of Will’s previous relationships as well as friendships. True, there is that one little detail that all his previous relationships have been with girls, so that kind of makes all the difference, but Will doubts it’s just that. Being with Nico is just so natural and easy, and he doesn’t think it would be like that with just anyone.

Will’s dad shifts his weight from one foot to another and clears his throat. ”Now, I know this is not exactly prom, but still, there are certain expectations amongst teenagers when it comes to school dances. I might be old, but I’m not ignorant.” Will’s dad takes something from his back pocket when he speaks, and it takes Will a little too long to realize what he’s talking about. ”I hope you’ll use these.”

Condoms. Will’s dad is giving him condoms. Will wants the ground to open up and swallow him whole, and he’s super glad that Nico and his stupid camera aren’t there. (They usually are every time Will feels embarrassed.) His face is all red and he can feel beads of sweat already forming in the back of his neck, and he doesn’t want to even look at the packaged latex in his father’s hand.

_I should have known this was coming_ , Will thinks, desperately trying to figure out a way to get through this situation without breaking Nico’s trust but also without having to take the condoms. He supposes this is probably a perfectly normal conversation in some families, in some relationships, but for Will the whole idea of having a need for condoms tonight is so foreign and so far from his mind that the suggestion feels outrageous.

”Dad, I’m not going to need those.”

Mr. Solace tries pushing the package in Will’s hand, not taking no for an answer. ”You say that now, and it might feel like these things are still in the faraway future, but – ”

”No, seriously, Dad. I’m not going to need condoms. Not as long as I’m with Nico.”

And Will kind of wants to be with Nico for an undetermined amount of time. He knows people usually don’t just grab the first person they’re properly dating and start planning a future with them, but then again, isn’t the whole point of dating to figure out if the other person is someone you want to spend the rest of your life with? Will has barely been dating Nico for a month and a half, but already he knows that there’s a good chance they can last years, even decades.

Being with Nico comes with certain limitations in the physical aspects of their relationship, and Will is aware of that. But can they even be called limitations when Will lacks any experience on them and therefore doesn’t even know what he’s lacking? He has never had sex, who’s to say he’d even like it if he tried? He knows he doesn’t get uncomfortable thinking about the possibility of one day having sex, but he also doesn’t feel a particular urge to try.

Will is with Nico now, and the possibility of having sex is not on the table. And even the thought of having sex with someone else doesn’t sit right with Will, at all.

Something must show on Will’s face, a kind of determination and reluctance to even talk about this, because it surprisingly doesn’t take long before Mr. Solace’s eyes round with understanding. ”Nico is asexual.”

Will is kind of very glad that his dad figured it out, because he didn’t want to say anything without talking to Nico first. But his dad knowing makes everything so much easier – especially the part where Will hopefully won’t have to continue this particular conversation any longer. ”Yes.”

”Well, that makes my job as your dad a little easier, I guess.” Will wants to roll his eyes, but he keeps his eyes strictly on his tie knot through the mirror. Maybe if he stares at it for long enough the awkwardness of the situation will past and he will somehow miraculously learn how to tie a neck tie.

Mr. Solace stays in the room while Will puts on his shoes, chatting about his first school dance and how these things seem to be so very different now that they were back then. Will has heard most of these things before, but he doesn’t interrupt; it seems that when you get to a certain age, your parents start regarding you as less of a kid and more of a ear to listen to all their teenage adventures, whether you want to hear them or not. Most of the time Will doesn’t, because his father has no shame or filter, and there’s only so many times he can hear his dad tell him about getting caught making out in his girlfriend’s bedroom without getting a massive headache.

When Will straightens his back and checks his watch, he knows it’s time to go. His dad steps in front of him and places a hand on his shoulder the way Will has seen happen in movies. Mr. Solace is more of a hugger, so Will isn’t used to these kinds of expressions of feeling.

”You know I’m proud of you, Will.” It’s not quite a question, but it still almost sounds like one, like Mr. Solace isn’t sure if Will knows this or not. There’s something very vulnerable in his eyes, and Will has to look away. ”So proud.”

Will gets a feeling this has to do with more than just going to a school dance and acting responsibly during sleepovers. He swallows around a sudden lump in his throat. ”Thanks, Dad.” He takes one last look of himself in the mirror, adjusting his tie and knowing that Nico is wearing one that’s the exact same color. He grins to his reflection, thinking of how far he has come in the past six months. ”I’m proud of me, too.”

* * *

Will looks so good in his suit that it makes Nico want to vomit a little bit. But that would be quite unfortunate and would spoil the evening from more than two people, not to mention that Will probably wouldn’t want to kiss him all night after that. So Nico just settles on staring at Will like a total fool and hence making Will blush in that perfect shade of pink again. Totally worth it.

Will drives them to the school and even carries Nico’s camera bag for him like the gentleman and a smitten nerd he is, and Nico almost flushes himself when he sees all the looks they get. There have been rumors and whispers and stares ever since Nico first held Will’s hand at school, but he had hoped they’d end by now. No such luck, but Nico is learning not to care about them. They set the tripod on a pedestal near the wall close to the dance floor and make sure the nearby chaperones know to keep an eye on it, and Nico’s heart melts a little when he notices that Will has learned the little things he is used to doing when unpacking his equipment.

”Thank you for the help”, Nico says, then reaches over to kiss Will’s cheek. It’s the least he can do. ”Shall we go get punch?”

The punch is not good. It’s served from tiny white plastic cups that crinkle and break if you hold them too tightly, and Nico spills half of his on both of their shoes. It’s more than a little embarrassing, but Will just laughs and says that it’s okay, that his shoes are old and a size too small for him, anyway. Nico hopes he’s not just saying it to make him feel better, because it doesn’t really work that well. Will’s laughter, however, does, and Nico wonders if it would be creepy to record it, just so he could listen to it on a bad day.

They return to Nico’s camera when the first slow dance starts, switching it to video that Nico can give to Jake so that he can make a short video edit for the school paper Tumblr page. It’s all a big process that Nico sometimes regrets taking part in, but it’s all going to work in his favor in the future, so he feels like he can stomach almost anything. There is still months of high school left, but Nico has sent out letters and emails and portfolios since freshman year, so he should be starting to hear back from them soon.

But tonight is not about college applications or even the school paper – or, well, it is a little bit for Nico, since those two are connected for him, and even though he is enjoying himself, he is still working tonight. But he doesn’t want to think about that, not when Will is standing next to him, swaying softly with the music with the tiniest smile on his lips.

”I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas already”, Will says and turns to look at Nico. ”It feels like it’s barely been a month since I moved here, and yet so much has happened.” He takes Nico’s hand in his and links their fingers together like it’s the most natural thing in the world for him. ”But I’m glad it all happened, because now I get to spend the holidays with you.”

_Dork_.

”I’ve never had a boyfriend during Christmas.” It’s a nice way of saying that these past two Christmases Nico has broken up with someone and thus caused a possibly very terrible holiday. Will doesn’t look like he’s made the connection, though, and Nico is glad. ”Are you and your Dad going to be home? Is there something you’d like to during the holidays?”

Nico doesn’t even know what to get Will for Christmas. What are you supposed to get to your boyfriend? He’s going to have to ask Hazel. Or possibly even Piper, but that’ll mean that he’ll get a call from Jason afterwards, bullying him into spilling all the tea about Will and why he hasn’t told Jason about him yet. Or maybe he can just ask Will what he’d want, like a normal person, because Nico honestly doesn’t get the whole panicking about gifts and hoping to get something the other will like and wondering how much is too much or if it’s too little, in the end. All those problems can be solved by simply asking, and Nico did promise Will honesty.

”Well, we usually play a lot of board games with Dad. And eat more chocolate than is healthy. And I think Xenia and her family are going to be over quite a bit, since it’s the first time we’re spending Christmas with them.” Will’s eyes gleam under the fairy lights when he smiles. ”And I also want to spend time with my boyfriend, and I want to go sledding with him, and then I want to curl up on a couch with him to drink hot chocolate and watch _It’s a Wonderful Life_.”

”I’m going to cry if we watch that.” Nico isn’t even ashamed to admit it, because –

”Everyone cries during _It’s a Wonderful Life_ , darling. And on Boxing Day you’ll come over and we’re going to make a pizza using all the Christmas leftovers as fillings, and we’re going to both hate and love it.”

Nico grins. It sounds terrible, and he can’t wait. The song changes back into something more upbeat, and Nico holds out his hand. ”Dance with me?”

Will is a terrible dancer, it turns out. Nico remembers noticing it back in Drew’s party, too, but it still brings a smile to his face. Will does have the basic rhythm down, but he doesn’t know what to do with his arms, and mostly he just looks like an awkward teenage guy at a school dance – which, admittedly, he is. Nico doesn’t care about dancing, but his dad made him go to ball room classes for a year when he was little, so he’s already fundamentally much better at it than Will is. Ball room dances have very little to do with jumping up and down to the music and raving like it’s a disco in the 80's, but Nico has fun, and Will seems to have fun, too. That’s all that matters to Nico right now.

There is, after all, going to be time for them to learn how to dance properly in the future – that is, if the need ever arises. Nico likes to think that Will looks very beautiful, very free and very happy when he dances just the way he does right now, and Nico looks forward to seeing him dance like that in prom, and then later in other parties to come.

Teenagers are not supposed to think about the future too seriously. They’re supposed to live in the moment and only worry about the next week’s math problems. But maybe it has something to do with the realizations they have both gone through this past year, and with Will sitting in the side lines and watching his parents’ marriage crumble over something very fundamental. Maybe it has something to do with Nico for the first time in his life feeling entirely himself and happy in a relationship. Maybe it’s all those things that make him believe that there can really be a future for him and Will, beyond high school romance or even college.

But that’s a plan for another day. Right now Nico just wants to watch Will sparkle under the lights and dance the night away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank all of you for your interest and support on this story. As I've said before, this is a very personal story for me, in that I'm projecting my own emotions heavily on Nico. (That's actually something I've been doing since day one to a degree, and wow that brings me back to some uncomfortable times.) I don't have the experiences Nico has had with people, but I definitely have the feelings behind those, and I feel like it's very important to represent this kind of asexuality, too. 
> 
> I am planning on a sequel for this story, but I have no idea when that will be out. I just want to point that out because Nico's growth story is far from finished, and as I have said before, sexuality is fluid, and what feels best for Nico at the end of this story might not be what he feels best for him in the long run. And that doesn't make him or his feelings, emotions or thoughts on this invalid.
> 
> Wow okay sorry for unloading that all on you, but I just felt like it needed to be said. Anyways, thank you for the love and support, and I hope to see you all here for whatever I might post next. Happy 2020!!


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